Yesterday’s closure of Compo and Burying Hill Beaches — to swimmers, not everyone else — took Westporters by surprise.
It was the hottest day of the year. But there was no rain — the usual reason for Parks & Recreation Department action.
The culprit was impossible to see: bacteria.
Burying Hill Beach, yesterday. (Photo/Seth Schachter)
And the verdict came as a result of something else few bathers ever notice: weekly testing.
Every Monday, the Aspetuck Health District takes samples from Compo and Burying Hill. (But not Old Mill. It’s adjacent to Sherwood Island; as a state park, they do their own sampling.)
A courier drives the samples from Fairfield to the Connecticut Department of Public Health, in Hartford.
It takes a day to analyze them. The results are available late afternoon on Tuesday.
If a sample shows enterococci levels of 104 per 100 milliliters, Aspetuck Health District notifies Parks & Rec.
Enterococci (not actual size). Blame these guys for beach closures.
Affected beaches are then closed to swimming, until they’re re-tested. The courier for the samples is only available Mondays and Wednesdays. So if the second test of the week comes back positive on Thursday, the closure remains in effect until the next test result — late the following Tuesday.
There are many reasons for the presence of harmful bacteria, including rain, marine life or sewage.
The reason does not matter, though. Too much enterococci means “no swimming.”
Westport closes its beaches for another reason, without testing. Any time there is 1.5 inches of rain or more, the potential exists for sewage backup or runoff. Beaches are closed, as a precaution, for 24 hours.
Though swimming may be prohibited, staff remains at beaches, says Parks & Rec director Erik Barbieri. There are plenty of other activities — especially at Compo.
So how often does a high bacteria count lead to closures?
Aspetuck Health District director of health Luci Bango — who provided all this information — confesses, “I don’t know. One summer can be perfect, phenomenal. Another year, not.
“I don’t control the climate.”
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