Swimming will now be allowed again at five Berrien County beaches that tested for high levels of E coli this week.
Berrien County Health Officer Guy Miller tells us the water at Warren Dunes, Weko Beach, Jean Klock Park, Townline Beach, and Rocky Gap tested for high E coli in samples taken Monday. Due to wave conditions, the Berrien County Health Department couldn’t take follow-up samples until Thursday. The results are finally in.
“All of our levels have been under 100 E coli per 100 milliliters, which is good,” Miller said. “Anything that’s over 300 is considered kind of the advisory level where we’re like, ‘Well, you shouldn’t do more than just your feet or your legs or something like that.’ Or canoeing and kayaking is okay, but full body immersion is not a good idea.”
Some of the beaches were testing over 1,000 on Monday.
Miller says the cause of the E coli contamination could be several things. Sewer overflows are a common concern, but he’s had no reports of sewage overflows in Berrien County this week. There was a large one in South Bend on Monday, but it’s not known how that would affect Berrien County or how quickly. Miller says heavy rainfall can also cause E coli from wildlife to wind up in the water.
“So if we’ve got some pretty warm days and we’ve got some E coli hanging out on the bank of a creek or a ravine, it can grow naturally in that environment, right? So it can replicate and replicate, reproduce, and then when a big rain comes, it can get get washed into whatever tributary is nearby.”
If the wave and wind conditions are right, the E coli can become concentrated near the shore instead of dissipating.
Miller says the health department will resume its regular weekly testing on Monday. As part of that program, staff go to 14 beaches around the county early in the morning and take three samples from a depth of about six feet. The three are averaged out to determine the E coli level at a beach for the day.
Miller advises swimmers to be conscious of the water quality, regardless of whether a no swim order has been issued. If the water looks or smells strange, he recommends not jumping in.
You can monitor E coli results from beaches around the state at the Beach Guard website.
