AMHERST — After several weeks with Puffer’s Pond being open for swimming, town officials announced Thursday morning that the North Amherst site would be closed immediately due to high levels of E. coli bacteria.
The latest tests of water samples that were drawn from the pond on Monday, with results posted by the town Wednesday, show E. coli exceeding safe limits on the South Beach, the main swimming area.
Both beaches had high E. coli levels in the first tests of the year, on June 2, while the South Beach also exceeded safe E. coli limits on June 30. But otherwise, unlike 2024 when the pond was closed to swimming for most of the summer, the test results had been good.
Assistant Town Manager David Ziomek told the Conservation Commission at its July 9 meeting that the water quality had been holding, including getting through July 4 with no issues, but it was uncertain why.
“I can’t fully explain it given how difficult last summer was,” Ziomek said.
The town’s website states the reasons for the failed tests as “heavy use and climate change have contributed to frequent high levels of bacteria, making it occasionally unsafe for swimming.”
Ziomek said both the University of Massachusetts and Amherst College are offering expertise to examine the Cushman Brook, which flows into Puffer’s Pond, the Mill River, which extends out from the pond, and the Fort River that passes Groff Park in South Amherst, to try to find out why bacteria levels have surged.
A state dashboard of beaches, updated Thursday morning, doesn’t yet list Puffer’s Pond as closed, with only one beach in western Massachusetts, in Springfield, being closed.