Lake Michigan beaches reopen after E coli levels drop

BENTON HARBOR, MICH. -- Summer beach season is nearly over, but crowds surged today despite contaminated waters this week.

Beaches on Lake Michigan now officially back open after one week of high E. coli levels.

Today, dangerous currents, however, kept people out of the waters too.

Jean Klock Park Beach opened midafternoon today following the tests results that E. coli levels were now considered safe.

On Monday, levels in the water tested positive for E. coli at triple the safe level. The Berrien County Health Department asked people not go in the water at five of the local beaches.

The levels didn’t concern some beach goers. “No, I was in the army, so nothing bothers me...” Julio Jiménez said.

Monday’s test results yielded 1,000 parts per 100 mL. Safe levels are less than 300 per. Results have dropped since then.

“Those did come back in an acceptable range, so we’re seeing very low levels of e. Coli that is safe, for bathing,” said Guy Miller, the Berrien County Health Department Officer.

E. coli isn’t the only thing that caused issues on the beach.

“It’s fun and I like doing it only in the summer because there’s water and it’s hot,” Ben Poleski, another beach goer told us about his disappointment that he wasn’t able to swim.

Many like Poleski like to swim, but the red flags today prevented him. Strong current and big waves made swimming too dangerous. Many are still enjoying the beach.

“We’re a big crew, we hangout a lot so we can entertain ourselves. We got frisbees, footballs, volleyballs so we got plenty to do,” Ryan Galka told us.

School has started, and in some places, is about to. Those here were soaking up the last of the summer sun.

“You can say this is the last hurrah before we get back to it.” Ryan Galka said. “Back to normal schedules, waking up early and staying up late so this is it. We’re going to enjoy every last second of it,” he continued.

Continue to monitor the health departments and beach guard websites for updates on wave conditions and water quality.