Audubon Connecticut joined Save the Sound, Environment Connecticut, Citizens Campaign for the Environment, and federal and state lawmakers July 28th to release the Natural Resources Defense Council's 2010 "Testing the Waters" report. This annual report examines national water quality and beach closings data for 2009, breaking down the information state-by-state and beach-by-beach. This year's figures for Connecticut indicate a decrease in beach closings and advisories in 2009 to 108, down from 135 closing and advisory days in 2008, but a continuation of poor water quality conditions.

Factoring out a wildlife anomaly in 2008 caused by a flock of resident Canada Geese in Westbrook, Connecticut beaches were closed or carried posted advisories for 108 days for the past three years in a row, demonstrating that the state has been unable to make significant progress in reducing the health threat facing swimmers and boaters who want to enjoy the state's waterways. The great majority, 81 percent, of beach closures and posted advisories reported in 2009 were due to stormwater contamination, a condition that can be mitigated through investment in sewer infrastructure upgrades and stormwater management techniques like green infrastructure and landscaping. Other unknown sources of contamination account for the remaining 19 percent of beach closures and advisory days.

"Like the Gulf, Long Island Sound is central to our way of life here in Connecticut," said Sandy Breslin, Director of Governmental Affairs for Audubon Connecticut, the state organization of the National Audubon Society. "Unlike the Gulf, we know how to stop the Sound's pollution. Sustained state and federal investments in clean water including stormwater are the key to making sure Long Island Sound remains a summer refuge for people and wildlife."

Polluted stormwater runoff contributes to the Sound's "dead zone," a growing area in the western portion of the Sound where oxygen deprivation stresses marine animals and flora. Long Island Sound is an eight-billion-dollar regional economy in which the marine trades play a major role-for businesses that depend upon a thriving and healthy waterway, hypoxia is a key concern as it signals an inability of the marine environment to sustain life.

NRDC analyzed Connecticut Department of Health data for 65 beaches monitored by the state and municipalities. Connecticut slipped from its 12th place ranking last year to 13th in the nation for the percentage of tests that exceeded national standards, with five percent of those tests failing to meet standards set for bacteria.

Read the full NRDC report

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