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EGLE: Northeast Michigan beaches safe for swimming

News Photo by Julie Riddle Branden Wolbers, 7, is doused by brother Garrett, 11, as siblings Weston, 9, and Kennedy, 6, in pink, assist at Mich-e-ke-wis Park in Alpena on Tuesday.

ALPENA — High bacteria levels closed 42 beaches in Michigan so far in July, but beachgoers can safely dip their toes at Northeast Michigan beaches, according to a state beach health tracking system.

On Friday, 17 beaches around the state — including a beach in Alcona County — registered high levels of bacteria after heavy rain hit parts of Michigan.

The Caledonia Township Park beach tested above the state safety standard on July 15. Two days later, health officials detected almost no bacteria at the same beach, according to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy’s BeachGuard website.

No other Northeast Michigan beaches closed because of high bacteria levels in July.

While anything from dredging projects to goose droppings can raise bacteria levels high enough to make swimming unsafe, the high bacterial count in Alcona County resulted from rain runoff, according to Shannon Briggs, toxicologist at EGLE’s Water Resources division.

Such runoff rinses anything on the soil — which sometimes includes bacteria-laden materials — into rivers and carries it to beaches. High bacterial labels typically take only 24 hours to come down to a safe level, Briggs said.

Local health departments conduct beach bacteria testing at their discretion and share the results with EGLE. Officials from District Health Department No. 4 test the water at Starlite Beach in Alpena weekly between the end of June and the beginning of September, according to EGLE’s Beachguard site.

Water samples collected at the Alpena swimming beach so far in 2021 indicated small amounts of bacteria, well below the level at which the state recommends swimmers avoid the water. Samples collected on July 13 reflect only trace amounts of bacteria, the lowest amount so far this summer.

While some attribute dangerous beach levels of E.coli — a bacteria that lives in the lower intestine of humans and animals — to excess goose droppings, according to Briggs, health officials can’t blame geese without first testing tainted water to make sure the cause doesn’t lie elsewhere.

Contamination could come from cattle or other livestock or human waste released through a faulty pipe, and its source needs to be found and fixed — especially if the cause is human waste, “because that’s just top-of-the-line gross,” Briggs said.

Still, geese and seagulls do leave behind bacteria-laden bundles when they visit, which should discourage residents and beach visitors from feeding the birds. Residents should also keep septic systems functioning properly, according to Briggs.

The toxicologist also recommended allowing some grass to grow untrimmed near beaches to discourage birds, which flock to well-tended grass but avoid taller vegetation.

Health officials last detected dangerous levels of bacteria at Alpena County beaches in 2013, when the bacteria level at the Blair Street Park beach was “too numerous to count” on Aug. 26, according to state data. The bacteria level fell to an acceptable level within three days.

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