Two Branford Beaches Face Contamination

The beach at Branford Point, one of Branford’s most famous public beaches, has one of the highest rates of unsafe bacterial contamination of any beach in Connecticut and Johnson’s Beach in Short Beach is not far behind.

Curt Johnson, executive director of Connecticut Fund for the Environment’s bi-state Save the Sound program, told a recent meeting of the Branford Rotary Club that he was ​“shocked that the water sampling data collected by our East Shore Health District shows that Branford Point Beach receives a grade of D in the Sound Health Explorer. That makes Branford Point Beach among the five dirtiest swimming beaches in Connecticut,” he said. Johnson’s Beach on Clark Avenue in Short Beach received a ​“C” rating. 

Interactive Map Gives Beach Data

The Sound Health Explorer, recently launched by Save the Sound, is an interactive website (included here) designed to let residents and local governments know how clean or dirty their local beaches are. The site assigns a letter grade to the nearly 200 beaches surrounding the Sound, based on how often each beach fails state and federal safe swimming standards for bacterial contamination. The bacterial monitoring data is provided to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the State of Connecticut, based on bacterial monitoring routinely completed by local health departments at every beach in Connecticut.

“The data for Branford Point Beach indicates that, on average, bacterial levels exceeded healthy swimming standards one in five times over the past five years, even in dry weather. The average beach in the U.S. has an 8 percent failure rate,” Johnson said. 

“The good news is that these bacterial contamination sources at our beaches are super local,” Johnson said. Common sources of bacteria can include sewage leaking from nearby failing sewer pipes or septic systems, storm water that collects animal waste and dumps it near a beach, or even large flocks of Canada geese.

“Towns can and have made progress in identifying sources of bacteria and cutting them down,” Johnson added.

Johnson said he had spoken with First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove who has agreed to set up a meeting with the town engineer Janice Plaziak, officials from the Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA), the East Shore Health District and the Parks Department. The purpose of the meeting is to have an inter-disciplinary discussion of potential sources of bacteria with the hope of developing a bacteria remediation plan, Johnson told the Eagle in an interview.

Dirty Beach Issue Is Not New

The problem of dirty beaches and dirty water is not new.

The Connecticut Fund for the Environment raised concerns about Branford Point, Johnson’s Beach and other beaches for years. Back in 2009 when U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal was the state’s Attorney General he visited Branford Point with state and local officials and said that contaminated runoff containing human excrement and other foul substances were ruining many of Connecticut’s beaches. He recommended using federal stimulus money to improve sewers, especially those in older cities where untreated sewage winds up in Long Island Sound. Click here to read the story.

Johnson’s Beach on Clark Avenue in Short Beach was not in great shape in 2009 either.

In 2009, Branford Point was named one the six beaches in the state with high bacterial ​“exceedances,” meaning its bacterial contamination was higher than national standards permit in 2008. Since then there has been little or no change at either the Branford Point Beach or Johnson’s Beach in Short Beach.

Why Some Beaches and Not Others? 

There are several reasons for high bacteria rates, including storms, dog poop, and other substances found on or in nearby roads whose debris flow into the Sound via storm drains that empty into storm water discharge pipes. In Short Beach the storm drain on Clark Avenue (see the top of this photo) is only a few feet away from the discharge pipe below that Johnson is pointing to.

The discharge pipe empties into an area near a patch of Spartina grass, the type of grass frequently found in coastal salt marshes. This patch of Spartina is only a few feet away from the beach.

The town’s storm drain system is overseen by the public works department. ​“We also need to look at the pipe system. Our sewer plants are operating pretty well,” Johnson said. ​“But the pipes are getting old and tired.”

Children and the elderly are most vulnerable to diseases from contaminated water at swimming beaches. Common problems include diarrhea (including severe illnesses like dysentery), pink eye, skin irritations, and parasitic infections.

In an interview Johnson pointed out that the Fund’s report is not a health department advisory as to whether it is safe to swim or not swim at the two Branford beaches.

“The issue is what the long-term patterns show. This data is based on a town’s health district, samples that are taken once a week at the beaches. This data goes back 10 years. And what we have found is that Branford point far worse than others,” Johnson said in an interview.

Johnson believes the problems at Branford Point and Johnson’s Beach are local in nature and can be fixed. The beach at Stony Creek, for example, has an A rating. 

At Johnson’s Beach, he said a storm river basin empties into the pipe located at one the end of beach ​“that flows right into the location where people are swimming.” After a recent rainstorm last week, Johnson said, the pattern shows that polluted storm water from the streets surrounding the beach is discharged into the Sound and into the adjacent Farm River.

“The river was brown this morning,” Johnson said after the rainstorm.

“Will the town take leadership and really make an effort to understand what the contamination problem is and invest in some additional testing? Johnson asked. ​“Where does the bacteria coming from?” There are solid leads, he said. 

He said samples are crucial along with ​“some intensive monitoring with citizens willing to help.” Both Branford Point and Johnson’s beach point to local solutions he said. ​“We need more neighborhood involvement,” he said.
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