The beach at Cherry Creek Reservoir reopened today at 1:15 p.m. after levels of E. coli bacteria in the water dropped well-below dangerous levels.
The beach was closed Tuesday, Wednesday and this morning after recent rains flushed storm water from surrounding neighborhoods into the lake.
The storm water contained various pollutants, including fecal material that raised the E. coli levels as high as 410 parts per 100 milliliters.
State law requires beaches to be shut down when required testing detects more than 235 E. coli organisms swirling in a 100-milliliter sample.
Chatfield Reservoir also had been closed Tuesday because of E. coli levels there, but its beach reopened Wednesday.
Deb Frazier, spokeswoman for Colorado State Parks, said that with the hot, dry weather, the water’s E. coli levels were expected to drop.
She said no tickets were issued to people who ignored the posted warnings at the beaches.
She said that in just about every case, the public tends to heed the advice of park rangers and leave the water.
In the history of the parks, she added, rangers have never had to forcibly remove anyone from the water.
The E. coli levels didn’t affect the use of the reservoirs by anglers, boaters and Jet Ski operators.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
