SAUGATUCK, Mich. — Oval Beach in Saugatuck is under a contamination advisory following the Allegan County Health Department's detection of a high amount of E. coli bacteria.
"We got the results back on Tuesday that there was an exceedance at Oval Beach," said Environmental Health Services Manager Randy Rapp.
Rapp said they take tests weekly at three Allegan County beaches, however, this week, Oval Beach was the only one that came back with a positive test.
"It could be like some goose feces or duck feces or fish feces got caught up in the sample, either because the wave action riled it up," said Rapp. "Or, it could be if there was something going on, some construction, or something somewhere else and it got blown down that way, that's another thing that could cause it, too."
Despite the warning, Oval Beach had a large number of visitors on Thursday afternoon, both in and out of the water. Signs were posted along the beach noting the contamination advisory near the water's edge.
While visitors are strongly encouraged not to swim, if they do the department said there are steps to take to prevent recreational water illness, including:
- Keep pets off the beach
- Do not feed the birds
- Use the restroom before swimming
- Do not swim in water that smells foul, looks murky, or immediately after a heavy rain
- Do not swallow lake water
- Vigorously towel off after swimming
- Wash your hands with soap and water before eating
- Shower as soon as possible when you return home
"If they ingest it, they could possibly get sick from it," said Rapp. "You know, if they accidentally swallow it, something like that. So that's why we issue the advisory, just to let people know what's going on and what we found while we were out there."
Rapp said they did do another round of testing on Thursday and they'll be awaiting those results.
The latest test results and advisories can be found on the EGLE Beach Guard website.
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