It was good to see that the bacteria levels detected in the waters of Gloucester's beaches after last week's rains had sufficiently subsided to allow for the beaches' reopening in time for the weekend,
Indeed, while city officials seemed to effectively handle the problem, and rightfully put public safety first, one of the last things anyone wanted was to have to tell residents of visitors who had come here to enjoy Good Harbor Beach, Wingaersheek or those off Stage Fort Park that they could not go into the water due to high bacteria counts.
So the fact that, just 24 hours after lifeguards essentially ordered swimmers out of the water on Thursday, full access was restored Friday afternoon was encouraging to say to least. The same goes for officials in Manchester, who shut down Magnolia, White and Black beaches that had been reopened to swimming after Wednesday's deluge of rain. These beaches reopened Friday after tests showed the runoff bacteria had passed from their waters as well.
More troubling, however, was the scenario as it played out in Rockport.
None of Rockport's beaches were closed — including Long Beach, which Rockport shares with Gloucester — even in the wake of heavy rains which triggered bacteria levels of up to 10 times the state's safe levels at Wingaersheek. And beachgoers might well have interpreted that as a sign Rockport's beaches were bacteria-free, and safe for frolicking in the surf.
As it turned out, anyone who thought that was wrong. The reason Rockport avoided a swimming ban was that health officials there are only required to test for bacteria in their coastal waters once and month — and the last tests were carried out on Aug. 3, records show.
There were apparently no new tests done last week, when excessively high bacteria levels were confirmed in neighboring Gloucester, and when it seems likely that those who did wade into Rockport's waters faced similar risks.
That's not really the fault of Rockport officials, who were certainly within compliance with the state's testing mandate and schedule.
It does, however, a serious hole in the government's public safety net — and one that should be soon addressed.
One easy solution would be to mandate that any city or town with coastal waters conduct bacteria tests within 24 hours after a specific amount of rainfall — perhaps 1-2 inches.
That would give beachgoers bound for the waters off any city or town the information — and the safety assurance — they need.
That wasn't the case for those swimming off Rockport late last week; it must be the case from now on.
