High levels of bacteria shut down more than a half dozen beaches, from Bellingham down to Olympia, just as many families are about to hit the road for summer swimming adventures.
There are signs announcing the beach is closed at Lincoln Park in West Seattle, but still, our KOMO News cameras captured people either in or near the water.
“I totally didn’t see those signs that are out here,” said Jeff Chon, who was along the water’s edge with his sons. Once Chon learned there was a high level of bacteria in the water, he whipped out the hand wipes and told the kids to clean their hands.
“I guess we’re gonna have to be a little more aware of bacteria in the water,” said Chon.
From Puget Sound’s salt water to the freshwater of Lake Washington and other area lakes and streams, the bacteria hiding in the water that occasionally closes beaches to swimming, most likely coming from geese and ducks.
“So, we ask people to not feed the geese and ducks because more food is more geese is more poop, and that can lead to more beach closures,” said Daniel Nidzgorski, an ecologist at the King County Department of Natural Resources and Parks.
Dogs are another common source of poop that carries bacteria along with people. It all carries different germs, and that can make people sick. Swallowing contaminated water can cause diarrhea or nausea. Wading in it or rubbing the eyes can cause irritation or a skin rash.
That’s why King County tests the water at local beaches every week, from May to September.
“We had low bacteria, low bacteria, low bacteria until last week and had high bacteria,” said Nidzgorski of Juanita Beach in Kirkland,. The beach then closed, based on that high test reading. Nidzgorski explained that Juanita Beach was tested June 20 and then June 26, and when that last test sample showed the water returned to low levels, Juanita Beach opened back up that afternoon.
So, if it all contains bacteria, do we need to know if it came from people, pets, or wildlife? “It matters what kind of poop it is only in that we want less poop, so finding the problem helps us fix the problem,” answered Nidzgorski.
He told KOMO News that the county’s been working with the city of Kirkland on landscaping to reduce the problem, but he said this problem would likely never go away entirely.
There are other factors that lead to Juanita Beach getting closed more often than others. Most of us have seen what geese and ducks leave behind on land, and when it rains, like it did Father’s Day weekend, that rain can wash all that stuff right down into the water. Nidzgorski also said Juanita Creek, a habitat for waterfowl, flows down into the beach area.
“Just trying to look at some of our data from the last four years, there are some beaches that have really good water quality almost all the time, like more than 95% of the time during July and August when people are swimming,” said Nidzgorski.
But, when a beach is closed, he said that’s getting all the attention. And he told KOMO News the county’s now starting to analyze historical data to learn more about why some beach areas collect more bacteria than others.
“Gene Coulon Beach in Renton tends to close, but right up the road, Kennydale Beach has had good quality water, quality over 95% of the time for the last four years,” he said.
Plus, he said Mathews Beach had had problems, but Magnuson Beach has been great.
“We’ve even done some studies where we tested a beach that is having problems and two houses away had really good water quality,” said Nidzgorski.
So, now they’re working on getting that data collected and analyzed and out to the public. Eventually, he said they’d be able to identify patterns and develop a general forecast.
“We won’t be able to see what’s going to be next, but we could say like July is usually hot or this beach usually has good water quality, and this beach has more problems, so giving people some of that ability to understand a general picture of what’s going on in addition to public health week by week guidance,” he explained.
Source: Komonews
