UPDATE: Bristol Town Beach reopened after sewage closure

Sewage leak forced the town to ban swimming pending water quality tests

By Patrick Luce
Posted 7/18/17

Bristol Town Beach has been closed to swimming due to a sewage leak, the town announced Tuesday morning.

Town officials found a small leak in a sewer line near the parking area for the beach and …

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UPDATE: Bristol Town Beach reopened after sewage closure

Sewage leak forced the town to ban swimming pending water quality tests

Posted

Bristol Town Beach has been reopened to swimming after it was closed Monday due to a sewage leak, the town announced Tuesday afternoon.

Town and state officials reopened the beach Tuesday afternoon after water quality tests showed bacteria levels less than 10 parts per milliliter, Mr. Burke said. The state Health Department considers water safe for swimming with bacteria counts up to 60 parts per milliliter.

Town officials found a small leak in a sewer line near the parking area for the beach and sports complex Monday. The leak was coming from the restrooms at the beach. The discharges were contained, repairs were made, and disinfection has taken place, the town announced.

Parks and Recreation Director Walter Burke said he expected the tests would come back normal, and that the beach had been closed "due to an abundnace of caution."

"So little went through it, my feeling is nothing got to the bay," Mr. Burke said of the sewage.

The leak came from the grinder pump pipe, which runs from the bath house, under the parking lot sidewalk and through the woods to Melrose Road, where it ties into the town sewer system. Increased pressure on the one-and-a-half-inch pipe from increased use — especially after a busy weekend — caused the pipe to rupture.

A maintenance worker first noticed the leak Sunday evening, but only water was coming out. By Monday afternoon, the leak had turned to sewage, prompting the closure.

"It started leaking again and I could smell sewage right away," Mr. Burke said. "I contacted DEM and the state Health Department, and asked for water quality tests."

That's something both the Health Department and the Bristol Parks and Recreation Department do each week. Bristol Town Beach averages a bacteria count of about 10 parts per milliliter.

The same system of drains and green swales that regularly keeps the bacteria count low, and the beach open — it has closed just once in the past three years since the system was installed — has likely also kept the sewage leak out of the harbor. A trail in the beach parking lot shows the leak empty into a storm drain, from which it empties into another drain before exiting into a wide swath of greenery designed to filter water before it reaches the harbor.

"It would have to get through that whole green swale," Mr. Burke said. "I really don't think enough got in to get into the water."

For the time being, a three-inch pipe will be run above-ground, across the beach parking lot to Melrose Road. The damaged underground pipe will be replaced once the town's summer camp wraps up in August. Mr. Burke estimates the leak will ultimately cost about $15,000 to $20,000.

Bristol Town Beach

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