DES MOINES, Iowa—The Iowa Environmental Council provides a weekly report of the testing done on many public beaches in Iowa. The information is available from public sources and is released in the IEC Weekly Water Watch.

There are 9 beach advisories for the week of 7/29

9 Beaches with an E. coli-related Advisory:
Backbone Beach (Dundee, Delaware County, IA)*
Big Creek Beach (Polk City, Polk County, IA)*
Emerson Bay Beach (West Okoboji Lake, Milford, Dickinson County, IA)*
George Wyth Beach (Waterloo, Black Hawk County, IA)*
Lake Darling Beach (Brighton, Washington County, IA)*
Lake Keomah Beach (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, IA)*
Lake of Three Fires Beach (Bedford, Taylor County, IA)*
Lower Pine Lake Beach (Eldora, Hardin County, IA)*
Prairie Rose Beach (Harlan, Shelby County, IA)*

*Data from the Iowa DNR State Park Beach Monitoring Program
**Data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Rock Island District

Note: The shallow area adjacent to the shore at West Overlook Beach at Coralville Lake has high concentrations of E. coli. While the result of the composite test of West Overlook Beach was below the advisory threshold, USACE officials advise caution at the shallow areas of West Overlook Beach close to the shore, as those areas are generally where young children who are more vulnerable to E. coli play.

Update:
Lake of Three Fires is now open. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Iowa DNR, and the CDC have confirmed the presence of Naegleria fowleri in Lake of Three Fires. HHS and DNR recommend that Iowans assume the amoeba is present and take precautions to limit the amount of water going up recreationists noses. Read the full press release.

County and City Beach Advisories:
IEC is now receiving some city and county beach advisory information.
View the map on our website for city and county beaches that exceed the state’s advisory threshold for E. coli.

Boone County Conservation has been conducting E. coli tests weekly at the Don Williams Recreational Area Beach and have found the levels well below the levels for notification.

(contributed information, IEC)