High bacteria levels prompt beach advisory
Swimmers warned to avoid 3 areas

06/28/04
Houston Chronicle
by Kevin Moran

Galveston — Higher than normal bacteria levels at three of 45 Galveston County beach testing locations caused health officials to issue swimming advisories for those areas this weekend.

The above-average counts of bacteria such as hepatitis A were detected in Gulf of Mexico waters near Eight Mile Road and on a portion of East Beach on Galveston Island, as well as near Rollover Pass on the Bolivar Peninsula, Galveston County Health District spokesman Kurt Koopmann said Sunday.

Koopmann said the heightened bacteria levels can probably be attributed to runoff from last week's heavy rains.

"It's just the same as when they have floods in Houston," Koopmann said. "They tell people not to play in the storm waters because there could be illnesses transmitted, because it could be contaminated with sewage runoff or something like that."

No health warnings were in effect for Stewart Beach, along the city's 10-mile seawall, where thousands of people swim daily during the summer, said Galveston Beach Patrol Maj. Vic Maceo.

Most people at East Beach on Sunday were there for a rap concert and were not interested in swimming, Maceo said."There were a few people in the water and a couple of people asked about it," Maceo said of the health warning.

The health district tests water along the Galveston County coastline weekly, Koopmann said. When tests show a spike in bacteria at a testing location, a health warning is posted there, he said.

"We call them `no-swim advisories,' " Koopmann said, adding that people can choose whether to swim in the posted areas or not. No health problems have been reported by swimmers.

Koopmann said once the district detects heightened bacteria levels in an area, the tests continue daily until the levels go down.

Read the press release

For More Information Contact:
Kurt Koopmann
Public Information Officer
Galveston County Health District
(409) 938-2211
kkoopman@gchd.org