DEP's Weekend Beach Status

The forecast for this long holiday weekend says hot, hot, HOT! If, like many, you're thinking of heading to the beach to cool off, you're in luck. All of the ponds, lakes and stretches of ocean tested by the Department of Environmental Protection are open for swimming as of Friday.

So feel free to head off to any one of these destinations and dive right in--Ahhhhhhhhh:

•Wadsworth Falls, Middlefield
•Wharton Brook State Park, Wallingford
•Chatfield Hollow, Killingworth
•Stratton Brook, Simsbury
•Squantz Pond, New Fairfield
•Quaddick, Thompson
•Pachaug State Forest, Voluntown
•Mount Tom S.P., Litchfield
•Mashamoquet Brook, Pomfret
•Lake Waramaug, Kent
•Kettletown, Southbury
•Indian Well, Shelton
•Hopeville Pond, Griswold
•Gay City, Hebron
•Day Pond, Colchester
•Burr Pond, Torrington
•Black Rock, Watertown
•Hammonasset Beach State Park, Madison
•Rocky Neck, Niantic
•Sherwood Island, Westport
•Silver Sands, Milford

For up-to-the-minute information on water quality in the state, call the DEP's hotline at (866) 287-2757 and press 5. Or, as we told you in a  earlier this week, you can now check out the status of Hammonasset, Rocky Neck or Sherwood Island beaches on Twitter @:

• Twitter.com/CThammonasset
• Twitter.com/CTrockyneck
• Twitter.com/CTsherwoodislnd