"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
oups.com...
..

Sound is clean, but the base is contaminated. No one has ever been
injured by swimming in these waters. Still, I know lots
of people who eat what they catch here and no one is glowing or getting
sick.

RB


Pathogens are entering the Sound's waters due to the use of obsolescent
sewer systems. These older systems were designed to let rainwater runoff
flow through the same pipes as contaminated sewage. During mild periods of
precipitation, the rainwater and sewage remain separated due to a dividing
wall inside the pipes. To accommodate a surge of rainwater during periods
of heavy precipitation, the engineers included a gap at the top of the
dividing wall. This allowed overflowing rainwater to flow through both
sides of the pipe at once. This causes the rainwater to come in contact
with untreated human sewage. The contaminated rainwater bypasses treatment
and is dumped into Long Island Sound. These combined sewer overflow systems
are currently in use in eight cities around Long Island Sound: New York
City, Norwalk, Jewett City, Derby, Norwich, Shelton, Bridgeport, and New
Haven. Other Sources of pathogens are sewage treatment plant malfunctions,
unmonitored (illegal) connections to sewers, and sewage discharges from
ships in the sound.

The presence of pathogens in Long Island Sound presents a serious health
risk to humans exposed to them through the ingestion of improperly cooked,
contaminated shellfish or by bathing in contaminated waters. Exposure can
cause serious diseases such as salmonellosis and hepatitus A. Contamination
alerts diminish the regional economy by damaging the public's opinion of the
Sound's resources. Closings of beaches and shell fishing areas are results
of pathogen contamination (see figure 5).

http://oceanworld.tamu.edu/students/...land_sound.htm

From 1986 to 1990, the Management Conference identified 10 beaches that were
chronically closed (defined as closed for at least three days per year for
at least three of the five years) to swimmers due to pathogen contamination.
The chronically closed beaches, in order of severity, were Scudder Park,
Gold Star Battalion, Mamaroneck Area, Huntington Beach Community, Hempstead
Harbor Area, Centerport Yacht Club, Fleets Cove, and Mamaroneck Beach Cabana
and Yacht Club in New York and the beaches in the Norwalk and Milford areas
of Connecticut.

http://www.epa.gov/region01/eco/lis/ccmp/patho.html