Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Media Contact: Anne Perry Moore, 218-723-2356 Technical Contact: Heidi Bauman, 218-723-4953 Toll-free (all staff, voice and TTY): 800-657-3864 Duluth, Minn. -- Dry weather conditions likely contributed to safer swimming in Lake Superior during 2005, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) reported today. "We compared three years of monitoring program data and saw emerging weather-related trends," said Heidi Bauman, MPCA Beach Program Manager. "Heavy or frequent rainfalls tend to wash bacteria into the lake and reduce beach water quality and dry weather has the opposite effect." During 2005, the MPCA's Lake Superior Beach Monitoring and Notification program staff collected 2,348 samples at 39 Minnesota public beaches and boat access points. Laboratory tests indicated levels of E. coli and / or fecal coliform bacteria were considered safe for human exposure in 92 percent of the samples. When bacteria numbers exceeded health-based levels, staff posted signs advising swimmers and other water enthusiasts to stay out of the water. Seventeen of the 28 advisory signs were posted at four Duluth beaches: Clyde Avenue Boat Landing, Park Point Southworth Marsh, Park Point 20th Street / Hearding Island Canal, Park Point New Duluth Boat Club / 14th Street. "Despite the weather, some beaches have bacterial problems more often than others," Bauman continued, "and the causes varied at each beach." Because funding restrictions limit the program's water sample analyses, Bauman doesn't know whether the bacteria originate in stormwater runoff, sewer overflows, resident waterfowl populations or other sources. Bauman said an important message is that during the past three years, 90 percent of the beaches had safe water 90 percent of the time. Higher-than-safe bacterial levels were found fairly consistently at the remaining 10 percent of the sites: Duluth's Clyde Avenue Boat Landing, Park Point Southworth Marsh, Park Point 20th Street / Hearding Island Canal, Park Point New Duluth Boat Club / 14th Street and Two Harbors' Burlington Bay. Comparative statistics for 2004 and 2003 include:
· Total number of samples collected and the percentage with safe bacteria levels: 2,128 / 94 percent; 1,658 / 96 percent
· Number of sites monitored: 38; 35
· Advisory signs posted: 26; 19
The MPCA's Beach Monitoring Program, developed by MPCA and local health departments to meet federal requirements for coastal beaches, calls for beach water quality testing at least once a week at designated sites between Duluth and the Canadian border and post an advisory sign whenever E. coli or fecal coliform exceed safe levels. Bauman says the beach monitoring program results give state and local health and environmental officials much-needed information about beach water quality. Before 2003, few beaches along Minnesota's Lake Superior coast were monitored for bacteria. Though St. Louis County, the city of Minneapolis and the Three Rivers Park District have long-standing public beach water quality monitoring programs, there still is no consistent statewide approach for assessing human health risks. The MPCA's monitoring program has helped standardize testing and advisory procedures and increased public awareness of beach water quality and the factors that affect it. Program partners at the University of Minnesota-Duluth are working independently to identify bacterial sources. For more information, contact Heidi Bauman, MPCA Beach Program Manager, at 218-723-4953 or 800-657-3864 or visit the program's Web site at http://www.MNBeaches.org.