To the editor:

According to the present Sakonnet Harbor Management Plan, swimming is now permitted in Sakonnet harbor, yet no state testing can occur unless there is a paid life guard and paid parking. 

Would it be possible for your Beach Commission to conduct the testing? According to testing our group did in the harbor in 2019 for only one day per week for six months in 2019, we found severe sewage pollution occurring often enough to cause great concern from March through August.

The public uses the harbor beach, and yacht club sailing classes conduct capsize drills and swimming tests in the harbor, not to mention boaters using the public launching ramp having to go neck deep on the ramp to release their boats from their trailers.

We have tried to have the state conduct these tests, but they have refused and feel constrained by present regulations. We find it puzzling that your commission would offer to test the waters off Almy Creek and the recently acquired Agricultural Trust lot, while not testing the harbor waters, which we regard as a far more hazardous threat to public health than Sakonnet River waters.

Mimi Karlsson, Retired EPA-AED

John Karlsson, Retired DEM Marine Fisheries Supervisor, Sakonnet Shore Watch Coalition

Little Compton

Note: This open letter was recently sent as an 'open letter' to the Little Compton Beach Commission.