To swim or not to swim: Tests track bacteria in Puffer’s Pond 08/15/2024
Puffer’s Pond, a popular Amherst swimming hole, has been closed for much of the summer due to high levels of E. coli.
"As in previous weeks, the latest tests posted to the town of Amherst website show Puffer’s Pond water with unsafe levels of E. coli, a problem that appears to be growing in frequency in recent years. Last summer, the beach remained closed from late July until the last test was completed in early September."
“Puffer’s has total limits on E. coli and coliform,” Sullivan said, explaining that the pond water can’t exceed 235 colony-forming units, or CFUs, per 100 milliliters.
In addition, samples can’t exceed a geometric mean of 126 colony-forming units, or CFUs, per 100 milliliters over samples from the five most recent days. There’s also a formula for calculating the rolling geometric mean, Brace said.
When complete, the tests from Tuesday show 214.3 CFUs per 100 milliliters at the south beach and 248.1 CFUs per 100 milliliters at the north beach. But the geometric mean remains high at the south beach, at 213.04 CFUs per 100 milliliters, though lower at the north beach, 124.44 CFUs per 100 milliliters. However, if either the daily or five-day mean standard is exceeded at either beach, no swimming is allowed."
"Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek said this week that tests will be done upstream this month, during both dry conditions and following storm events, understanding that when there is wet weather, more impurities from runoff end up in the pond.
This testing will include a dozen or so locations along Cushman Brook, which feeds Puffer’s Pond out of Shutesbury and Leverett and extends below the Silver Bridge and the swimming hole, as well as some of the tributaries along the brook. Beneath dam, the waterway becomes the Mill River.
READ MORE Daily Hampshire Gazette - To swim or not to swim: Tests track bacteria in Puffer’s Pond (gazettenet.com)