Beaches continue to get added to the not recommended for swimming list, according to the latest Iowa Department of Natural Resources beach monitoring report released Friday, Aug. 8.
Sixteen beaches monitored by the state and two Des Moines area beaches tested high for E. coli or toxic algae.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources monitors water quality at 39 state-owned swimming beaches and provides weekly updates to the public through its website and a hotline at 515-725-3434. Sampling begins the week before Memorial Day and continues through Labor Day.
What Iowa DNR beaches are not recommended for swimming?
Backbone Beach
Beeds Lake Beach
Bobwhite State Park
Brushy Creek Beach
Crandalls Beach
Emerson Bay Beach
Lake Ahquabi Beach
Lake Darling Beach
Lake Manawa Beach
Lake of Three Fires Beach
Nine Eagles Beach
Pine Lake South Beach
Pleasant Creek Beach
Prairie Rose Beach
Union Grove Beach
Viking Lake Beach
What Des Moines area beaches are not recommended for swimming?
What Iowa beaches have a special status?
What beaches have improved to ‘OK for swimming’?
McInstosh Woods Beach is the only lake that saw improvements in water quality from week 11 data, posted on Aug. 1, to week 12. It has since been removed from the list of beaches not recommended for swimming.
How does the Iowa DNR classify Iowa’s beaches based on their water quality?
DNR officials classify state park beaches into one of three categories annually based on their history of bacteria results in recent years:
Less vulnerable: The beach’s geometric mean standard is exceeded in two or fewer sampling seasons of the five most recent years of monitoring and was listed as “transitional” or “less vulnerable” in past monitoring seasons.
Vulnerable: Beaches are considered vulnerable when the geometric mean standard is exceeded in three or more of the five most recent sampling seasons.
Transitional: The beach’s geometric mean standard is exceeded in two or fewer sampling seasons of the five most recent years of monitoring and was listed as “vulnerable” in the past monitoring seasons.
Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez is a general assignment reporter for the Register. Reach her at vreynarodriguez@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter @VictoriaReynaR.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 18 Iowa beaches are unsafe for swimming, according to Iowa DNR, local water monitoring
Reporting by Victoria Reyna-Rodriguez, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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