BURNSVILLE, W.Va. — Two popular swimming beaches in Braxton County remain closed after testing by the local health department revealed higher than acceptable levels of coliform.
The tests were done by the Braxton County Health Department last week. The results prompted the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to close down the swimming areas as a precaution on both bodies of water.
“They test all of our designated swimming areas both at Burnsville and Sutton Lakes,” said Burnsville Dam Project Manager Michael McCoy. “They have thresholds for coliforms and E-Coli you can’t exceed. Our E-coli was well under the threshold, but the total coliforms were above what was recommended for a public swimming area.”
The beaches at the Bee Run Recreational Area on Sutton Lake and the Bulltown Day Use Area at Burnsville Lake are closed until re-testing reveals the level of contamination back below the acceptable levels.
“They’re supposed to re-test Tuesday or Wednesday and if the levels have gone back down we’ll reopen the beaches,” he said.
The source of the elevated level of coliform is not known for certain, but McCoy suggested it could probably be blamed on a high number of geese which congregate in the swimming area often and leave droppings behind.
Despite the closure of the beach areas, the rest of the two lakes are open for use.
“We’re not closing any parts of the lake, we only test that swimming area,” he said.
Although the next test is expected to be on Tuesday or Wednesday, health department officials said they need three days without rainfall before they can test the water quality again. Until that time, the two beaches remain shut down.