To the editor:

I am responding to a question from Sham Hunt in last issue’s opinion page. 

I am the former owner of the Westport Camping Grounds and managed it for 45 years. I have been responsible for testing our water supply and have a small water system operator’s license required by the State of Massachusets. 

Question number 4, in his op-ed piece, asks if the water at Westport Camping Grounds is contaminated. As a semi-public water supply, we were required by Mass DEP to take 3 water samples every month to be tested for coliform and/or e-coli along with nitrates and other contaminants. 

Only once in the past 10 years did we have one monthly sample (out of three) of higher than normal coliform count. This was due to bacteria entering the water lines from construction and repair. 

The solution, as required by Mass DEP, is to chlorinate and flush our two wells and retest — which we did and passed the remaining inspections with no further problems. This meant the one-time contamination was man-made and not a continuous ground water problem. 

For those uninformed, coliform is a common bacteria that is present in nature including soil and plants and is generally harmless. It can migrate into wells from construction or repairs or even after a heavier than normal rain storm. According to DEP, it is quite common and easy to resolve. 

E-coli contamination is a different story altogether requiring intense state oversight and immediate shut-down of the wells to find the source. We never had any E-coli contamination, nor any other contaminants for that matter. We never, in 45 years, had to shut down our drinking water supply because of contamination. Matter of fact, our campers would suggest we bottle our artesian well water and sell it because it was so tasty!

All our testing is available by contacting Massachusetts DEP Public Drinking Water department and you will see our history of exemplary drinking water test results. I can assure Westport residents that the campground drinking water from our two wells is  not contaminated (last tested October 2019).

Martin Costa

Former owner/operator

Westport Camping Grounds, Inc.

Westport