By Ken Valenti
WESTPORT–Compo Beach will remain closed to swimming until late Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday morning as health officials await results of tests on water samples taken today to determine whether the bacteria level has returned to a safe range.
Health officials closed the beach Friday when one of two weekly samples taken at the beach came back with levels of enterococcus bacteria exceeding health and safety thresholds. The sample showed 190 units of the bacteria per 100 milliliters of water, higher than the threshold of 104 units, said Luci Bango, director of health for the Aspetuck Health District, which includes the beach.
The 29-acre park is open for activities other than swimming. Old Mill Beach and Burying Hill Beach remain open for swimming.
Enterococcus
Enterococcus is a genus of bacteria used as an indicator by health officials. Its presence signals the possibility that “a whole host of other pathogens could be in the water,” many of them harmful, said Peter Linderoth, director of healthy water and lands with the environmental organization Save the Sound.
Linderoth described the water quality at Compo Beach as “quite good” in general, noting that Save the Sound’s annual Beach Report has given the beach A and B grades for water quality in recent years. Compo Beach’s rating was B- last year, following a B+ in 2023.
Good grades
“Compo Beach has a string of good grades,” Linderoth said. “It’s not totally uncommon to receive an exceeding sample even at a good beach from time to time.”
Water at locations throughout the state, including Compo Beach, is tested every Monday, and sent to a state laboratory in Rocky Hill, Bango said. Samples typically take days to process, as the state scientists review samples from many points on Long Island Sound as well as lakes, ponds and other bodies of water, she said.
A standing order closes the beach automatically following 1.5 inches of rain because stormwater runoff historically elevates bacteria levels, Bango said. But elevated bacteria levels can result from many causes, including droppings from geese, deer or other wildlife in the area.
For updates and more information, please visit the Aspetuck Health District website: https://aspetuckhd.org/
So the beach is closed because the town can’t or won’t test the water itself. And everyone is now waiting on an antiquated process to open the beach. Collecting samples once a week, getting them picked up and brought to Hartford and waiting on the results is ridiculous.
Are there any leaders in this town who can buy a damn testing machine and test the water daily? Why do we accept this way of doing things?
It’s not a gross thing, however, i hope the Hamlot people tell their clients about the elevated levels of “goose droppings”. The town waste and sewage services are working overtime to clear up any bacterial misunderstandings derived from the influx of visitors from out of state, so common in the hot summer months when the rains and humidity at lowtide create a perfume like smell in and around the saugatuck basin. If youve spent anytime living here, you know the smell, by the mouth of the river…goose droppings…. im sure they explain all about that in the Hamlot investor prospectuses.
Todd, one correction, its “curated goose droppings.”