Officials continue their search for the source of the high bacteria levels.
Contamination in the water off of Groton continues to be of concern for people and also local business.
“We’re three weeks without any income. We have employees, we have customers–it’s a real burden,” said Jim Markow, farmer and president of Mystic Oysters.
A veteran of Noank’s oyster industry, Markow said he’s navigating an obstacle he’s never before faced.
“This is a new problem for us. We’ve been farming oysters here for 30 years without a problem,” Markow said.
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The problem? Contaminated water, originally detected about three weeks ago through their own water testing procedure.
On September 8, the Town of Groton announced that the Noank Town Dock would be closed until further notice due to “high fecal coliform amounts,” consistent with what Markow’s team had found three weeks ago.
“We found elevated levels of bacteria in the water, human gut bacteria, so things that indicated fecal coliform,” said Danielle Buttermore, Hatchery Manager for Mystic Oysters.
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Now three weeks since they last farmed oysters, Markow said he and his team have been in contact with the town about the issue, while continuing to test their own samples.
“Taking more water samples, we can try to pinpoint where the source of the problem is as opposed to just identifying that there is a problem,” Buttermore said.
John Burt, town manager for the Town of Groton, said the town, along with Ledge Light Health District, have also started inspecting sewers, testing storm drains and other areas for potential issues.
“We’re reaching out to DEEP now, to see if they can go and check pump out boats, pump out facilities at marinas because that’s also a possibility,” Burt said.
So far, Burt said they’ve yet to identify the root of the problem.
“Just working our way down the line checking everything we can check, so obviously this is urgent to us and hopefully we’ll find the right thing soon,” he said.
Markow said that even when the issue is identified and a solution is found, his team will have to wait another 21 days before they can start farming again.
