DES MOINES, Iowa—The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has released it’s beach monitoring report for this weekend:

About Swim Advisories

When microcystin or E.coli levels exceed certain standards/thresholds, DNR posts swim advisories telling beach-goers to stay out of the water due to health risks.

The Iowa Environmental Council tracks these weekly beach monitoring reports/swim advisories, as well as advisory trends from year-to-year. Click here to view our trend data.

Current DNR Beach Monitoring Report (Week of July 19, 2019):

• # of Beach Advisories Issued for E.coli = 6
  • Beaches with an E.Coli-Related Warning/Advisory:
    • ​Backbone Beach  (Dundee, Delaware County, IA)
    • George Wyth Beach (Waterloo, Black Hawk County, IA)
    • Lake Ahquabi Beach (Indianola, Warren County, IA)
    • Lake Keomah Beach (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, IA)
    • Lake Macbride Beach (Solon, Johnson County, IA)
    • ​McIntosh Woods Beach (Ventura, Cerro Gordo County, IA)

• # of Beach Advisories Issued for Microcystin = 3
  • Beaches with a Microcystin-Related Warning/Advisory:
    • ​Green Valley Lake Beach (Creston, Union County, IA)
    • Lake Darling Beach (Brighton, Washington County, IA)
    • ​​Lake of Three Fires Beach (Bedford, Taylor County, IA)

*Lakes that exceed 20 micrograms/L of microcystin are issued a swim advisory by the Department of Natural Resources. The EPA has published a recommendation that a swim advisory should be issued for lakes exceeding 8 micrograms/L of microcystin, but the DNR has not adopted that threshold.

The Monitoring data provided above is from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Many other public and private beaches that are not monitored by DNR are also susceptible to blue-green algae blooms. A map showing DNR’s most up-to-date beach monitoring information can be found on the DNR’s website. You can also call the DNR Beach Monitoring Hotline at 515-725-3434 for weekly updates.

(contributed press release)