2025 CEQ Annual Report

Water

Rivers, Lakes, and Estuaries               Water of Long Island Sound               Warming and Rising Waters                Clamming and Oystering              Drinking Water

Swimming

Coastal Beaches

There was a total of 247 beach action events in 2025; however, 63 of these events were closures not related to water quality*, resulting in 184 beach action events related to water quality for all 73 reporting public coastal beaches in Connecticut. Of these 184 beach action events, there were 154 closures (84 percent) and 30 contamination advisories (16 percent).

The 184 beach action events in 2025 were 34 percent less than the previous year (279) and about six (6) percent less than the previous ten-year average (195). The data indicate that approximately 63 percent of the 184 beach action events for 2025 were caused by elevated bacteria levels, while approximately 27 percent were caused by “rainfall” and the potential for elevated bacteria levels

Inland Beaches**

There are currently 17 inland state parks with designated swimming areas.  The number of beach closures at those inland state parks in 2025 was 44, which represents a 37 percent increase from the previous year (32) and a seven (7) percent increase from the previous ten-year average (41). All of the beach closings in 2025 were due to high bacteria levels.⁴²

Goal: The goal for keeping beaches open is to reduce the number of coastal beach closings in half by 2035 from 2014, with the number for 2014 calculated using a five-year rolling average (247).^₄₃ 

_{Technical Note: *A beach action event is recorded for a beach even if only a portion of the beach is affected. During a beach closure, water conditions are deemed unsafe for swimmers and other users. 2025 - Pleasure Beach in Bridgeport was closed for 63 days because of ticks, not due to water quality.**2018 - Wharton Brook swimming area closed for entire 2018 season - not reflected in the data provided; 2020 - Results impacted by COVID-19; 2024 - Indian Well swimming area closed for remainder of season due to flooding damage beginning on August 18, 2024.} 

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⁴² _{EPA, Beach Advisory and Closing On-line Notification, accessed February 2, 2026; watersgeo.epa.gov/beacon2/reports.html. (Inland Beaches) DEEP, personal communication from A. Aarrestad, December 9, 2025.}

⁴³ _{Long Island Sound Study, Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan, 2015; longislandsoundstudy.net/2015/09/2015-comprehensive-conservation-and-management-plan/}