Monitoring Available For Public Bathing Areas Across CT

HARTFORD — The Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) Laboratory is making its Beach Monitoring Program water testing services are available to state agencies and local health departments/districts this summer to test the safety from public bathing areas, including fresh water and coastal public swimming areas as well as municipal public pools.

On Tuesday, May 30, the DPH Lab began testing of water samples among 63 town-regulated beaches as well as at Connecticut’s four coastal state parks: Sherwood Island State Park Beach, Silver Sands State Park Beach, Hammonasset State Park Beach, and Rocky Neck State Park Beach. Additionally all inland state parks with public swimming areas are also being sampled and monitored. Testing is funded in part by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Connecticut has a beautiful recreational resource in its coastal beaches, its inland lakes and ponds, and its town and city swimming pools,” said DPH Commissioner J. Robert Galvin, MD, MPH. “The water testing efforts in our state are a collaborative effort between federal, state and local public health authorities that makes swimming at these public areas cleaner and healthier for our residents.”

Through Labor Day, the DPH lab will test approximately 5,000 water samples collected from across the state. Coastal water samples are transported to the DPH lab and tested for elevated levels of Enterococcus, an indicator organism found naturally in shell water sediment.

“Elevated levels of Enterococcus may make humans sick, and can indicate the presence of other organisms that cause illness,” Dr. Galvin noted. “Children, pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems are at particular risk.” Inland water samples are similarly tested for elevated levels of E. coli.

Test results are provided to local health departments, and to the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), who are responsible for beach closures, beach advisories and public notification of such for beaches within their purview. The Connecticut Department of Public Health in addition to providing laboratory analysis of bathing water samples also provides technical assistance to DEP and local health departments/districts with interpretation of laboratory results and identifying possible sources of contamination where elevated sample results occur.

“This program is just one example of how local, state and federal public health officials work together, keeping Connecticut healthy,” Dr Galvin concluded.

For more information on the DPH Beach Monitoring Program, visit dph.state.ct.us/BRS/EHS/Recreation/Beaches.htm.