Politics & Government

Barrington Beach Closures an Example of Work Left to Be Done

Heavy rains have closed the beach three times this year already because of bacterial contamination.

Save the Bay officials said in the Providence Journal that Rhode Island needs to do more to clean up its coastline because of a rash of beach closures this year caused by heavy rains.

Barrington is one example.

Barrington Beach has been closed three times so far this summer season because of high bacteria levels in the water, said Recreation Director Michele Geremia. 

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There were no closures last year. 

The closures have added up to about 6 or 7 days of lost beach time, she said.

Find out what's happening in Barringtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“We’ve just had more rain this summer,” Geremia said.

More rain means more runoff and stormwater dragging waste into the water.

The number of beach closures since Memorial Day this year across the state because of bacterial contamination has topped 100, according to the state health department.

“This is a wake-up call for us,” said Save the Bay’s Narragansett Baykeeper, Tom Kutcher. “Our Bay is still in crisis.”

Some communities are addressing stormwater runoff, he said. And Barrington is among them.

There is a management plan for Barrington Beach that includes catching and dispersing rainwater before it reaches the beach. And a rain garden was built as an Eagle Scout project a couple of summers ago. 

But much of the work at the beach remains to be done. So beach closures are expected to continue each summer with a lot of rain.


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