French Park Beach Reopens After Bacteria Testing

The beach on Medicine Lake in French Park was closed to the public Aug. 22 after results from weekly bacteria testing came back with a higher than average level of bacteria, but the beach reopened Friday afternoon.

Rich Brasch, Senior Manager for Water Resources for Three Rivers Park District, said it was unusual for the beach in French Park to have a problem with high levels of bacteria.

"There was no problem last year," Brasch said. "We conduct weekly bacteria tests between Memorial and Labor Day when the beaches are open and used by the public the most."

The criteria on whether bacteria levels are too high are based on state standards that the Park District goes through with rigorous risk analysis, he said.

"French is little bit over the standard to make a call on closing the beach," Brasch said "What often happens is we get an anonymously high reading and we retested it yesterday [Thursday] and have to wait 18 hours for results."

The bacteria tested is for a non-pathogenic strain of E Coli commonly found at this time of the year, late summer, when water temperatures are high and birds like seagulls and/or Canadian geese are flying, roosting and molting, he said.

"We test for E coli and there are thousands of strains of E Colia, few of which are pathogenic or disease causing," Brasch said. "Based on research for state standards, which are fairly conservative and err on the side of safety."

There is no need for those who were at the beach in French Park close to when it closed to be alarmed in any way.

"There is an extremely low probability of any issues," Brasch said. "In any case, you should never drink a large amount of untreated lake water."

With two levels of standards being tested, bacteria levels are continually and strictly monitored by the Park District. The higher level detected at the French Park beach is from an average that is kept over a five-day period using five previous samples to see what the average levels were and if they were even slightly higher than usual.

Compared to the earlier and longer closure of Fish Lake in Maple Grove, Medicine Lake and the French Park beach has been more exposed to waves, circulation and water movement from higher use and is in a less isolated area than Fish Lake. That's why French is rarely closed for high bacteria levels. Also Fish Lake's size is smaller than French and has higher exposure to elements (like bird feces) that can lead to higher bacteria levels.

City of Plymouth beaches around the lakes in Plymouth are no longer open for swimming and closed Aug. 19. According to Recreation Supervisor Cindy Anderson, final testing on Aug. 21 did not show levels of bacteria that would normally have caused beach closings.

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