The Kitsap Public Health District announced Wednesday, July 24 that they will be, once again, closing the Kitsap Lake swimming beach due to high levels of E. coli bacteria in the water.

On July 17, the Public Health District announced that E. coli bacteria levels had receded to safe conditions, but an advisory remained in effect due to elevated levels of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). KPHD has advised visitors to avoid swimming in the lake since June 12, when the district intially issued a cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) advisory for the lake.

The closure level for E. coli is a geometric mean value of 126 MPN/100 mL. For samples taken July 23, the GMV was 476 MPN/100 mL. MPN/100 mL is a unit of measure that stands for the “most probable number” of bacteria colonies that grow in a 100 milliliter sample.

Kitsap Public Health stated they will continue to monitor the Kitsap Lake swimming beach for both cyanbacteria and E. coli. No illnesses have been reported to the health district at this time.

Editors note: the July 26 edition of the Central Kitsap Reporter contains a story which stats that E. coli levels have returned to safer levels, this is because the July 24 advisory was issued after the press deadline for the Central Kitsap Reporter.