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This article was published 14 year(s) and 2 month(s) ago

Lynn beach bacteria causing worry

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August 4, 2011 by [email protected]

LYNN – City and state officials said they are concerned and searching for the cause of elevated bacteria levels at the Stacy Brook outlet that closed Kings Beach for swimming last week and that exceeded public health standards in 83 percent of tests over the past year.”(Closure) generally happens in a rain storm, but it’s happening now in dry weather and we’re not sure why,” said Lynn Water and Sewer Engineer Andy Hall on Tuesday. “Believe me, we want to see this beach open? if we have a problem, we want to fix it.”Kings Beach was reopened mid-day Tuesday.But finding the source of the bacteria is a complex task involving two municipalities, several state agencies and lots of water tests.But Hall said the results have not revealed any “smoking gun.”The Stacy Brook outlet is located at the Swampscott-Lynn border and is the drainage point for two outlet pipes. One pipe collects water from storm water drains located across approximately 40 percent of the city of Lynn, according to Hall.Infrequently during large rain storms, the sewer system also “overflows” and untreated sewage and storm water exceeding the capacity of the treatment plant is released to Stacy Brook, Hall said.The second pipe collects storm water from a maximum of 25 percent of the town of Swampscott, said Assistant Town Engineer Victoria Masone.The Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) tests the combined water at this site – along with two other sites on the beach – weekly for Enterococci bacteria, according to data on the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH) website.The website defines Enterococci as bacteria that are an “indicator” of disease-causing organisms associated with fecal waste. Such bacteria can cause gastrointestinal problems in adults and ear infections in children, according to a previous interview with DCR spokesperson S.J. Port, and can be caused by anything from runoff after a rainstorm to a boat illegally dumping its sewage.In marine water used for swimming, bacteria levels in a single sample cannot exceed 104 colony forming units per 100 milliliters of water (104 cfu/100 ml) or an average of 35 cfu/100 ml from the last five samples not taken during a storm event, according to the Department of Public Health.If the test results – available after 24 hours – show elevated levels of bacteria, the beaches are closed to swimming, according to DCR protocol. Testing is continued daily until bacteria returns to acceptable levels, according to the DCR. Port said that the bacteria can stay for up to a week at Kings Beach due to the location’s geography and weak currents.According to an annual beach water quality report by the National Resources Defense Council, 83 percent of tests at Stacy Brook at Kings Beach in 2010 showed levels of bacteria that exceeded these standards. This was the highest percentage of “bacterial exceedance” in the state, according to the report, and led to 17 days when the beach was either closed or signs were posted to indicate the high bacteria levels.Previous annual reports show water at Stacy Brook at Kings Beach exceeded limits in 71 percent of tests in 2009 – leading to 25 days of closures and or postings on the beach – and in 72 percent of tests in 2008. But the annual report reveals that Stacy Brook at Kings Beach exceeded bacteria limits in only 7 percent of tests in 2007.Ironically, 2008 was the year that the city completed a long-term, $92-million project to re-configure and expand its sewer system to reduce the sewer “overflows” by separating storm water from sewage, Hall said. Rather than collecting both storm water and sewage in a single pipe to be treated at the plant, Hall said that, essentially, the sewage is sent to the plant and storm water is sent to the beach.This reduced the flow at the plant and decreased overflow events from 26 overflows in 2006 to four overflows in 2010, Hall said.But the most recent closure is not associated with any rain event, which suggests presence of sewage. But

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