Geese Are Likely Culprits In Eight-Day Closure At Eichler’s Cove

By John Voket

Eichler’s Cove, Newtown’s only fresh water beach facility, will remain closed through Friday, August 6, according to Newtown Health District Director Donna Culbert. This will mark an unprecedented eight-day stretch of closings for the swimming area, which along with a marina, is operated by the Parks & Recreation Department.

Ms Culbert said Thursday morning that tests done Wednesday were preliminarily showing bacteria counts well above the allowable level to safely permit swimming in the area.

“We’re still in the thousands,” she said of the measurement of unhealthy bacteria in water samples. But she was hopeful that tests planned for Friday would yield more positive results, and might allow for the opening of the beach this weekend.

A memo earlier this week from Newtown Inland Wetlands official Ann Astarita to Ms Culbert indicated the likely cause of extremely elevated e-coli bacteria counts was a burgeoning Canada Goose population occupying the area.

The memo provided to The Bee reported that on August 3, Ms Astarita and Health District Sanitarian Edward Knapik visited the popular Parks & Recreation-administered facility on Lake Zoar. Between the time the officials arrived, and the time they departed, Ms Culbert said the officials reported the presence of geese increased from a handful to “several dozen.”

Ms Culbert said the rapid assembly of the large contingent of waterfowl as the humans approached could be tied to reports she has received that homeowners in the area are feeding the birds.

“Our own sanitarian, who boats in the area, has seen the geese population increase,” Ms Culbert said. “And it’s disturbing that he’s seen a resident on the Monroe side of the lake feeding them, so now they know there is a food source there.”

The district director has become more convinced that geese are the issue, as more days have passed since any heavy rains have fallen. Typically, the district conducts multiple tests following heavy rains, which tend to temporarily boost the bacteria count above safe levels in the swimming area’s waters.

Normal bacteria growth in the Eichler’s Cove area is a naturally occurring phenomenon, according to Ms Astarita’s memo, because of warm temperatures, a dredged channel that creates what she termed a “bacteria sink,” and the more stagnant cove waters.

“This section of the [Housatonic] river [of which Lake Zoar is part of] does not routinely flush naturally as the currents are not swift,” Ms Astarita wrote.

“Part of our problem may be the proximity to the Stevenson Dam,” Ms Culbert told The Bee. She explained that the operation of the dam creates a swirling circulation pattern, so when tributaries slow or cease to flow into Lake Zoar during long periods of hot, dry weather, there is no formal north to south, or consistent flow of water through the cove.

High bacteria counts have forced the closing of the swimming area this week. Ms Culbert said that while routine sampling is done weekly, it is sometimes done two or three times during rainy weeks.

Despite the frequent sampling, Ms Culbert said it was “difficult to create a baseline because of the wide variance in counts.” She added that the highest allowable bacteria level in a swimming area is 235 colonies of bacteria per 100 milliliters of water.

Monday, Ms Culbert said, the water in the cove had a bacteria level of 2,419 colonies per 100 milliliters — the highest the measurement the sampling instruments will detect.

She said water is sampled from three different locations on the beach: the left, middle and right of the swimming areas. Monday’s tests yielded a range from 2,419 colonies — the highest Ms Culbert has seen in the swimming area — to 547 colonies per 100 milliliters.

Comparatively, Ms Culbert has seen some counts this year with bacteria levels as low as 12 colonies per 100 milliliters.

Ms Culbert believes there are no failing residential septic systems close enough to the area to create the elevated levels of bacteria found this week. She is, however, in the process of testing the closest septic system to the cove to determine if there is any seepage from that system into the adjacent waters — and she expects the results of that test by August 6.

She said if that test determines there are no septic leaks, it leaves the geese as the probable source of e-coli bacteria, the microscopic contaminants found in the intestines of warm blooded mammals.

District staff walking the area on Tuesday made note of a substantial amount of goose waste on the shoreline, including the beach. The officials also observed native ducks, heron, and egrets in an adjacent marina, which is just over the Monroe town line.

Currently, the use of coyote cutouts to scare the geese away are not working, according to the memo. Ms Astarita suggested erecting scarecrows or large pinwheels when the beach is closed to scare the birds. She said moving these items daily would further deter the geese from congregating.

Other suggestions included mounting a water pump with a motion detector to shoot water in the direction of invading waterfowl. But she said that device might also “affect trespassers after hours.”

The wetlands official also suggested formulating a more widespread sampling plan to be designed after existing samples and bacteria trends are analyzed.

Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold said her department is looking into several humane methods for discouraging the geese from returning to the immediate area. She said the Parks department will test a device that emits a sonic signal that drives geese from the area, but is nearly imperceptible to humans.

Ms Mangold also reminded residents who bought season passes to use Eichler’s Cove, that those passes also permit access to the town pool at Treadwell Park.