Officials at Chatfield State Park hope to learn this morning if they can reopen their swim beach, which closed Thursday after a water sample showed high levels of E. coli bacteria.
Managers closed the beach at about 10 a.m. Thursday after they learned that one of two routine tests taken Tuesday showed unacceptable levels of the bacteria, which can signal fecal contamination.
A test taken on the south side of the beach near Littleton found 500 colonies of E. coli per 100 milliliters of water, more than twice the state swim- beach cutoff of 235 colonies per 100 milliliters. A test taken on the north side came in at 209 colonies per 100 milliliters of water.
Steve Gunderson, director of the Water Quality Control Division of the state Department of Public Health and Environment, doesn’t think people who swam in the water Tuesday or Wednesday will have any problems.
“There are a fair number of waterways that have much higher levels of E. coli in them that are not swim beaches, but people still swim in them,” Gunderson said, noting that this occurs in some parts of the South Platte River.
Closing the beach was merely a precaution required by law, Gunderson said. Officials weren’t looking for the strain of E. coli that makes people violently ill, he said. Instead, they were looking for other forms of E. coli, often found in humans, to predict the presence of other bacteria that might cause upset stomachs and other problems if swallowed while swimming.
These high E. coli levels were probably caused by an increase in spring runoff and recent storms, combined with high temperatures.
Chatfield State Park employees took additional water samples Thursday morning and hope to get the results at around 10 a.m. today, said Keith Kahler, assistant park manager. The park closes its beach because of E. coli bacteria once or twice a year, Kahler said.
Gunderson said: “It’s not uncommon that we’ll have beach closures.”
Liz Navratil: 303-954-1054 or lnavratil@denverpost.com
