More City Dumping of Human Waste Closes Burlington Beaches
Michael Donoghue - Vermont News First
The city of Burlington continues to have woes with its dumping of poop into Lake Champlain.
The city announced Monday it has shut down several public beaches and recreational areas after an undisclosed amount of both discharged treated and partially disinfected effluent made its way into Lake Champlain.
Burlington said it has no idea how much made it into the lake so they have decided to list it as one gallon in its report to the state while the beaches are closed down and until the test results become known.
During emergency maintenance of a secondary clarifier, the effluent from the Main wastewater plant may have been compromised.
"There is a possibility that the facility discharged some less than fully disinfected wastewater,” said Matthew Dow, Director of Wastewater Facilities.
The city said it is proactively closing down the public beaches and access points within 1 mile of the Main Wastewater Treatment Plant outfall.
“This is out of an abundance of caution. Multiple E.coli samples were taken throughout the day and the results will be available tomorrow afternoon,” the city announcement said.
The public beaches and access points impacted are Oakledge - Cove, Blanchard North and South Blodgett beach access area Perkins Pier and Waterfront Boat Ramps.
“Until testing results are available we do not know the volume and are marking it as 1 until we have the information back tomorrow afternoon,” the city said.