After a repeat sampling, the Wareham Board of Health has announced that Swifts Neck Beach is open. Briarwood Beach will remain closed until further notice.  

From June 17 to August 27, the Wareham Board of Health tests the water each week for the presence of enterococci bacteria. The beaches are considered clean if they have 104 or fewer colony forming units (CFU)/100 milliliters of water. 

The board tests 4 fresh-water beaches and 16 salt-water beaches in Wareham.

The results from July 23 samples showed that Briarwood Beach had a mark of  262 CFU/100 ml.

One day later, results showed that Swifts Neck Beach had 42 CFU/100 ml, which is safe for swimming. Briarwood Beach is still closed until further notice.

“The bacteria found is fecal coliform, which generally occurs in the digestive systems of humans and other warm-blooded animals,” said Health Agent Bob Ethier. “That includes shorebirds, dogs on the beach, cats, it could be anything.”

The decrease in water quality was caused by heavy rains at the beginning of the week, according to Ethier. Rains wash fecal waste from pets and wildlife into the ocean, either directly or indirectly through storm drains. This is an especially big problem for beaches located near paved surfaces, which don’t absorb the dirty water.  

“The beaches are located in the lowest elevation,” said Ethier. “Everything that's on the streets up higher gets washed down — feces of dogs, cats, shorebirds, geese, ducks, any warm-blooded animals would cause that bacteria. Rain washes everything down from people's yards into the streets and down to the lowest area, which is the beach.”

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health mandates these quality tests.

Every Tuesday, the Board of Health inspector goes into knee-deep water to collect the sample in a cup. Those samples are then tested at the Barnstable County Water Quality Testing Laboratory. It takes 24 hours for the laboratory technicians to analyze the results. 

If the water sample indicates contamination, the Board of Health repeats the procedure daily until the water meets safety criteria. 

“We had a major rain event on Monday and Tuesday and we were sampling during that time because we can’t pick the dates to sample. You have to sample every Tuesday, whether it is pouring or not,” said Ethier.