Lake County News-Sun: Bacteria closes 11 beaches
Filed under: Earth 911 - June 7, 2007
NEWS-SUN STAFF REPORT
June 7, 2007
Blustery weather and pounding waves Wednesday caused all but one Lake Michigan beach to close.
The one county beach that was open is located in the north section of Illinois Beach State Park in Zion just south of North Point Marina. The marina beach was one of those closed and the park beach is near an area under contention because of asbestos-containing materials and exposed old water lines sticking out of the sand.
Leslie Piotrowski, Lake County Health Department communications manager, said Wednesday the 11 county beaches were closed for swimming due to high E.coli bacteria counts.
“They are closed because of the high waves. The waves hitting the beach stirs up the E.coli in the sand and it moves back into the water,” she said. The bacteria comes mostly from gull droppings, but beaches are also contaminated after heavy rains wash into the lake, she added.
Walt Schamba, general manager of the Lake Bluff Park District that oversees Sunrise Park and beach area, said Wednesday supervised swimming starts Saturday and he is confident the E.coli readings will have subsided by that time.
It usually only lasts for a short period,” he said.
People can check on the beach conditions by going to the Health Department Web site at www.co.lake.il.us/health/ and click on “swimming ban”. You can also go the Web site www.earth911.org and click on beaches 911 and then Lake County.