A volunteer water-tester says July bacteria readings along the Pawtuxet River, including at Hope Pond’s beach, far exceed the state standard for swimming. The claim is her own sampling account; no state response appears in the record.
A volunteer water-tester told the Scituate Town Council on Thursday that bacteria readings she collected from the Pawtuxet River in July ran from double to roughly ten times the state Health Department’s standard for swimming, and said she could not understand why the beach at Hope Pond had not been closed this summer.
The testimony came during a status update on a federal wastewater program, according to the Scituate Town Council’s published meeting recording. The council heard from Cindy Gianfrancesco, chair of the town’s Conservation Commission and a community volunteer who samples the river, after a council member asked whether the project team was working with local citizen testers…