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pat said:
Kabs,

I don't know if this will help or not but I've been coming to this island every year and multiple times per year since 1973 and we do swim there upon occasion as do thousands of others every week. I've never had an issue of any sort and I've opted to stay in town on occasion and make that my home base beach though we do travel all over the island for daily beaching.

It's great to be informed but I really think you're over thinking this whole issue and worrying needlessly about something that probably won't even happen while you're there.

The water from the salt pond doesn't spill over unless they're into a very heavy rain event and then it's only on a limited basis. The constant ebb and flow of the tides clears the water which is tested daily until it's okay to swim in. My understanding is that it's not raw sewage flowing in and I'm sure I'll be quickly corrected if I'm wrong, but I've also never seen residue on the beach there.

As far as the drinking water, no problem, Mon!


Pat, my friend, I'm going to have to disagree with you here.

First, I do agree that drinking water is fine.

Where did you find that water quality in the bay is tested daily? I would love to see that.

There is another source of pollution on the other side of Great Bay in the Rolandus Canal, near Bobby's Marina.

As for ebb and flow, sorry, but I'm going to steal a quote from my friend kal on another board:

gary - I had not previously viewed your posts on the canal effluent into Great Bay. As always, you're spot on but just spending time observing and smelling those canals is a real eye opener.

Once the material enters into Great Bay it takes quite an effort for removal. Great Bay is an "enclosed embayment" where it is not favorable to purging. There isn't enough tidal sweeping for water exchange and topography just extends the retention time.

All in all, the water is gorgeous to observe, but there's no way to see contaminants in the parts per million (ppm) or even parts per thousand range. Look at the immediate shoreline of the canals just upstream of the Great Bay discharge point and notice all the "floating material". Not good!


gary

Look up and wave! smile