Presque Isle State Park officials will know within the next week whether swimming will be permitted once again this summer at Beach 11.
Swimming has been restricted at the popular beach since July 15 because of consistently high levels of E. coli, the bacterium that is a strong indicator of sewage or animal waste. It can cause gastrointestinal illness and skin infections in humans.
“Next week’s water samples will tell the story,” said Matt Greene, the park’s operations manager. “It’s pretty much a long shot, but we are going to try.”
E. coli levels have been high enough since mid-June that Beach 11’s 30-day average, or geometric mean, exceeds the limit of 126 E. coli particles per 100 milliliters of lake water. It was 267 on July 24.
If the daily levels don’t decline significantly in the next week, park officials will restrict swimming at Beach 11 for the rest of the season because there won’t be enough testing days to reduce the levels below 126.
It would be the fourth time in eight summers that swimming has ended early at Beach 11.
High levels of E. coli bacteria have been a chronic issue at Presque Isle State Park’s Beach 11, shown in this 2018 file photo. Park officials have banned swimming at the popular beach three times in the past six summers before the traditional Labor Day weekend end of the season.
Park staff want Beach 11 to remain swimmable
Still, Greene and his staff have no plans to convert Beach 11 into a permanently unguarded beach were swimming would not be permitted.
“Beach 11 faces a different direction from the park’s other beaches, so it often has different weather conditions,” Greene said. “That allows us to keep that beach open when we have to restrict swimming at other beaches. We also have a lot of infrastructure set up there.”
Beach 11 faces several unique issues regarding E. coli levels
Greene has cited several reasons why E. coli levels consistently rise during the summer at Beach 11:
The lake water at Beach 11 is shallower than other park beaches, so it gets warmer during the summer. E. coli thrives in warmer water.
Beach 11’s water doesn’t circulate as much as it does at other park beaches, which also allows E. coli to thrive in one spot.
It’s a popular boaters’ beach. Boats can stir up lake sediment that contains E. coli.
Geese have been an issue at Beach 11 and their feces can contain E. coli.
Greene said he has plans to tackle a couple of those issues.
The park will implement its goose management plan at Beach 11 as soon as it is allowed. Federal regulations prevent such plans when the geese are molting their flight feathers, which they do mid-summer.
Next year, Greene hopes to dredge the sandbar at Beach 11 that reduces lake water circulation. The dredging — which must still be approved as part of the park’s 2026 budget — was last performed in the “early 2000s,” Greene said.
Dredging and goose management might help, but the key to lowering E. coli levels long term is to find its source, said David Masur, executive director for the PennEnvironment Research and Policy Center.
“It seems unlikely that the E. coli is coming from the beach itself, so you clearly have fecal matter coming from somewhere,” Masur said during a visit to Presque Isle on July 23. “You need a system for backtracking and then you can reduce the pathogens and bacteria. If you do that, you will have lower (E. coli) levels.”
Presque Isle to open Beach 7 for swimming
Since Beach 11 remains under a swimming restriction, park officials decided to open Beach 7 for swimming. Its waters were tested for E. coli on July 23, the first time since 2019.
“We plan to staff Beach 7 this weekend,” Greene said July 24. “It makes sense to test water samples there, especially with the popularity of Beach 8 forcing us to encroach on Beach 7 a bit. It gives us another beach for swimming on hot days, especially when we don’t have Beach 11 available for swimming.”
Contact David Bruce at dbruce@gannett.com. Follow him on X @ETNBruce.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Presque Isle staff will know soon whether swimming returns to Beach 11