Please Be Advised: Swimming Dangerous Right Now

Town residents and visitors are advised to refrain from swimming or wading in Lake Michigan until further notice. Chesterton, Valparaiso, and other municipalities, had to bypass their sewage treatment plants this past weekend, which means that there is untreated sewage in the lake that could cause you to become sick. In addition, there is a lot of dangerous debris out there that could cause injuries. A sample drawn at the beach by the U.S. Geological Survey on Wednesday, September 17 had 548 colonies of E. coli per 100 milliters of water, nearly twice the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit for recommended beach closures.

Furthermore, residents should be advised that walking on the beach barefoot or even with sandals might be hazardous. There is the potential for medical waste to be on the beach, and a lot of the debris has nails sticking out of it. Anything that is handled right now out there should be handled with gloves.

Lingering E. coli in the sand and in the wood debris can also be a problem. Recent research has revealed that beach sand contains high concentrations of E. coli and other fecal indicator bacteria, often greatly exceeding the concentration in beach water, according to Richard Whitman, Research Ecologist/Station ChiefLake Michigan Ecological Research Station, U.S. Geological Survey, Porter, IN.

"There is evidence that beach closings due to elevated fecal indicator bacteria may be linked to these sand populations," said Whitman in a recent press release on the topic. Whitman was one of the first to describe these high concentrations of E. coli in sands and to link them to high bacteria counts in water.