As of today – Tuesday, August 13 – the following beaches are temporarily closed:
All of the beaches are closed for a 30-day geomean E. coli exceedance, (the geometric mean of E. coli counts from 5 samples equally spaced over a 30-day period exceed 126 organisms per 100mL of water). This means that the MPRB will not be collecting new samples from these beaches until the next regularly scheduled sampling day on Monday, August 19.
The closure at Wirth Lake Beach is new this week and the Lake Harriet Southeast Beach and Bde Maka Ska 32nd Street Beach have reopened. The other two locations closed earlier and remain closed.
There are no reports of any illness from swimmers at these locations; however, the MPRB proactively closes beaches if bacteria levels exceed state guidelines. When the levels are within state guidelines, the beaches will re-open.
The nine other MPRB beaches are open and have acceptable bacteria levels.
More information
Get the latest results for water quality samples online at bit.ly/MPRBlakes
Learn about MPRB’s regular water quality monitoring at lakes and beaches
Swim Healthy
- Don’t swim if you or your child have diarrhea or are sick.
- Be careful to not get lake water in your mouth.
- Wash your hands before eating and after changing a diaper.
- Avoid swimming for 48 hours after a heavy rainfall, when bacteria levels can be high.
- Towel dry immediately after exiting the water to prevent Swimmer’s Itch.
- Do not swim in water that looks like “pea soup” or spilled paint floating on the surface.
- Keep children and pets out of blue-green algae scum.