FERRYSBURG, MI (WHTC-AM/FM, July 20, 2023) – The term “not out of the woods yet” may be appropriate when discussing the water quality off of the shores of North Beach Park north of Grand Haven.
On Thursday, the Ottawa County Department of Public Health advised “the community to take precautions” as E. coli levels there continue to “fluctuate.” Results of tests of the Lake Michigan water at North Beach came back at 304.89 E. coli per 100 mL, slightly above the maximum safe level for total body contact of 300 per Michigan Water Quality Standards.
Late last month, the department issued a No Body Contact Advisory due to elevated levels of E. coli. That advisory lasted for about 48 hours. It is believed that tainted water deposited there through dredging efforts at the Grand Haven harbor, in which sediment removed from there to clear shipping lanes were moved to the North Beach area, was the reason for the elevated E. coli levels.
Health Department officials say that this latest precautionary advisory will remain in place until the dredging operations, which are being done for the US Army Corps of Engineers by Holland-based King Company, are complete. That work of 141,000 cubic years of sediment should be complete by the end of this month.
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