UPDATED: Health Department says "all clear" AGAIN for swimming in Watchaug Pond

State Health Department again finds dangerous levels of bacteria and then it "went away"
By Will Collette

Ocean Community YMCA photo

UPDATE: after four days of closure, bacterial levels have dropped enough in Watchaug Pond for the Health Department to say it's safe for swimming. Yeah, until the next time.

OK, once again the state Health Department has discovered the water near YMCA's Camp Watchaug to be unsafe for swimming:

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) recommends closing Burlingame State Park Camping Area in Charlestown for swimming because of high bacteria levels.

Once was bad, but with this fourth closure order, I think we've gone to another level.

If it was me, or my kids, I would not let them go swimming in Watchaug Pond until long after the tourists and day-trippers had gone home.

Charlestown's economy depends on tourism. Our population triples during the summer. 

But that adds a lot of stress to our infrastructure, natural as well as man-made.

The traffic on the roads, the trash strewn everywhere, the pressure and increased draw on our aquifer and now recurring, perhaps chronic water safety problems at Burlingame. 

I guess we could throw up our hands and mutter, "tourists, can't live with them, can't live without them" or try to figure out a better way.