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Section 319
NONPOINT SOURCE PROGRAM SOCCESS STORY
Implementing Low Impact Development Practices at Bristol Town Beac
Keeps the Beach Open and Improves Offshore Shellfishing Waters
\A/ t h H I H Urban runoff and wildlife waste contributed to high levels of
VVaterDOay imprOVea bacteria at Rhode |s|and's Bristo| Town Beach. As a result, the
beach experienced a large number of closures. These pollution sources also contributed to elevated
bacteria levels resulting in shellfish closures in Upper Narragansett Bay. The pathogen impairment of
Upper Narragansett Bay was first listed as impaired for shellfishing by the Rhode Island Department
of Environmental Management (RIDEM) on its 1998 Clean Water Act (CWA) section 303(d) list.
Project partners implemented best management practices (BMPs) designed to control urban runoff
and wildlife waste in the town of Bristol. Consequently, bacteria levels have decreased at Bristol
Town Beach and water quality has improved in this portion of Upper Narragansett Bay.
Problem
Bristol Town Beach is on Narragansett Bay, adjacent
to and directly north of Colt State Park in Bristol,
Rhode Island (Figure 1). This town-owned recreation
area contains many amenities, including a public
bathing beach, picnic areas, ball fields, basketball
courts, a playground, tennis courts and soccer fields.
The beach provides access to saltwater swimming
on Narragansett Bay and is a treasured resource of
the town of Bristol.
Runoff from a 66-acre suburban neighborhood
drained through two stormwater outfalls and dis-
charged to a wetland on the town's beach property
directly north of the swimming area. Neighborhood
residents also used this wetland as a dumping area
for leaves and yard waste.
The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) col-
lected water samples and analyzed them for entero-
cocci bacteria (indicator organisms used to detect
the presence of fecal matter in the water column).
Rhode Island's water quality standard states that
saltwater bathing waters must not exceed a single-
sample standard of 104 colony-forming units (cfu)
enterococci per 100 milliliters (ml) of water. Both
saltwater and freshwater beach facilities are required
to conduct sampling to ensure safe swimming condi-
tions as part of their recreational licenses. Between
2002 and 2010, the RIDOH had closed Bristol Town
Beach an average of 8 days per season because of
high bacteria counts following rainstorms.
Figure 1. Bristol Town Beach is on Narragansett Bay
in eastern Rhode Island.
Project Highlights
In April 2008, local, state and federal stakeholders
met at Bristol Town Beach to brainstorm ways to
improve offshore water quality. The group decided
on a series of restoration measures, which the
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Figure 2. Project partners installed vegetated
bioinfiltration swales in this parking lot near the beach.
town and its partners then implemented between
2010 and 2012. Measures included (1) renovating a
parking lotto incorporate bioinfiltration vegetated
swales (Figure 2) and piping overflow via sub-drains
to bioretention cells, (2) installing permeable pave-
ment around the offices and beach restroom facil-
ity, (3) reducing the width of beachfront trails and
planting trees along the beach property to interrupt
the flight path of Canadian geese (whose waste was
causing fecal coliform contamination in the water),
and (4) constructing a wet vegetated treatment sys-
tem to collect and treat the stormwater flowing from
the neighborhood to the area north of the beach.
Results
This combination of BMPs has drastically reduced
the amount of both fecal coliform and enterococcus,
two indicator species of bacteria that come from the
intestines of warm blooded animals. Rhode Island
uses fecal coliform as the indicator species for its
shellfishing standards and enterococcus as the
indicator species for its recreational use (bathing)
standard. Because both fecal coliform and enterococ-
cus bacteria come from similar sources (i.e., warm
blooded animals and humans), when the presence of
one indicator organism is reduced, it can be inferred
that the presence of the other is also reduced. Data
from 2011 reflect the first project BMP implementa-
tion, and data from 2013 reflect the first year of full
implementation of all BMPs at Bristol Town Beach
(Figure 3). The incidence of bacteria levels exceed-
ing the swimming standard reduced significantly
from pre- to post- BMP implementation. There was
a single closure for four beach days in 2011, and
there were two closures for six beach days in 2012.
There were no closures at all during the 2013 season,
despite a ten-year high rainfall rate, and a single
30
Pre BMP implementation
(average annual days closed=7.9)
Post BMP
implementation (average
annual days closed=2.8)
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Year
• Total Days Closed • Rainfall in Inches* Linear (Total Days Closed)
* Precipitation data was collected at IF. Green Airport, 7.7 miles west-northwest of Bristol Town Beach.
Figure 3. The number of beach closures at Bristol Town Beach
declined, despite an increasing trend in area precipitation.
closure day in 2014. The enterococci data collected
at Bristol Town Beach reflect that BMP implementa-
tion has contributed to near-shore water quality
improvements—resulting in a dramatic reduction in
the number of beach closures (from an average of
eight days per season before the restoration efforts
to none during the summer after restoration) and an
incremental improvement in the water quality of the
shellfish beds immediately offshore.
Partners and Funding
Water quality improvement at Bristol Beach and
Upper Narragansett Bay was the result of a collab-
orative effort. The town of Bristol, RIDEM, RIDOH,
EPA Region I, the Rhode Island Coastal Resources
Management Council, and Bristol's environmental
engineering consultant worked together to plan the
restoration approach. The town of Bristol secured a
variety of funding sources to install the restoration
projects. They included (1) two CWA section 319
grants ($234,620 total) from the RIDEM Nonpoint
Source Program for a wet vegetated treatment
system to treat neighborhood stormwater runoff;
(2) $1,000,000 loan from the Rhode Island State
Revolving Fund for parking lot improvements, tree
planting to prevent geese on the beach, and perme-
able pavement around restroom facilities; and (3) a
$100,000 RIDEM Planning and Development Trails
Grant to reduce the width of paved paths from
20 feet to 10 feet. The town of Bristol also contribut-
ed $70,000 to support the parking lot improvements.
I
a
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Washington, DC
EPA841-F-15-001KK
August 2015
For additional information contact:
Betsy Dake, Section 319 Grant Program Manager
Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management
Betsy.Dake@dem.ri.gov • 401-222-4700 x7230
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