Popular West Tisbury swimming hole has been closed all month.
Mark Alan Lovewell

High Bacteria Counts Close Seth’s Pond

Seth’s Pond in West Tisbury has been closed all month due to high bacteria counts, but town health authorities said Monday they are hopeful the popular swimming hole can be reopened soon.

Seth’s Pond in West Tisbury has been closed all month due to high bacteria counts, but town health authorities said Monday they are hopeful the popular swimming hole can be reopened soon.

Speaking to the Gazette by phone Monday, assistant health agent William Droheim said weekly water testing for enterococci bacteria has been under way since early June.

Acceptable bacteria levels are 61 parts per milliliter or less, Mr. Droheim said.

On June 7, testing showed 517 parts per milliliter. On June 8 the count was 290.9. One June 14 it was 66.3. On June 21 the count was 34.5. The latest test was done Monday.

“The board of health wants to see more test results that are in the right direction,” Mr. Droheim said.

“If that continues, the pond could be opened in the next couple of weeks.”

The next meeting of the board of health is scheduled for July 8.

Comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 06/29/2021 - 19:46

Permalink

Marie

This happens quite often at Seth’s Pond. What is the cause of the sewage, people, animals or both?

Add new comment

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.