The lake is safe for swimming, county officials say, despite a high fecal coliform levels at Ramsey Creek Beach, likely caused by storm runoff.  The beach there was closed Thursday by county officials. The results of a new test could be ready today. The beach is near a county dog park. County officials say there are nine fecal coliform monitoring locations on Lake Norman. The last “sampling event” was on Thursday, July 14.  No elevated fecal coliform bacteria levels were detected in any of those samples.  The results spiked in the July 20 test.

The Ramsey Beach numbers are not related to the Denver spill.

The sample taken earlier this week in the Ramsey Creek beach area had elevated bacteria levels which led to the temporary no swimming advisory.  Additional samples have been taken and preliminary results are expected to be received sometime on Saturday.  “We will take appropriate action regarding the beach area based upon the receipt of those results,” a county official said.

Cornelius Toda will report the results as soon as they are available.

Sample Date
Fecal Coliform – CFU/100 ml
E. coli – MPN/100 ml

5/25/2016
<10
No test
6/7/2016
11
10
6/15/2016
81
27
6/23/2016
2
2
6/27/2016
5
4
6/29/2016
7
4
7/5/2016
42
34
7/7/2016
28
32
7/11/2016
4
3
7/13/2016
9
5
7/18/2016
7
2
7/20/2016
450
35

CFU – colony forming unit MPN – most probable number

The NC State Water Quality Standard for fecal coliform bacteria is set at < 200 CFU/100 mL. There is no State Water Quality Standard for E. coli, but according to the EPA’s Recreational Water Quality Criteria
for E. coli, two values are provided for Beach Action Values, 235 CFU/MPN and 190 CFU/MPN; therefore, we set our action level at 200 CFU/MPN. In the event either fecal coliform or E. coli results

were above the action level (200), we would issue a “No Swimming Advisory” and would only lift the advisory when sample results were back below these levels.