Hall County government officials closed the beach at River Forks Park and Campground Friday after high bacteria levels were detected.
"We've closed the beach, the E. Coli numbers are above a safe threshold," said Mike Little, Director of Community Service and Park for Hall County. He said the elevated numbers made it unsafe for swimming.
Little said the city of Gainesville water resources tests the water at the beaches of River Forks and the Rowing Venue on a bi-weekly basis, unless the bacteria numbers were elevated in the waters and needed to be tested further, like they were this past week.
"What we feel like it's attributed to the most is the geese population there at the park," said Little, "which is an issue all over the lake."
Headwaters Director for Chattahoochee Riverkeepers Dale Caldwell said their organization agreed that geese were the likely source.
"I agree with that. We have years of experience at Chattahoochee Riverkeepers with tracking sources of pollution and we've spent several hours this week on this matter and we've come to same conclusion as the county, that this is an issue with wildlife at the park, specifically geese" Caldwell said.
Caldwell said their organization took samples at River Forks Park and Campground on Tuesday as part of their new Clean Lake Lanier campaign, where they will sampling some beach sites on the lake throughout the summer. He said this was the only site where numbers came back "higher than standard for safe recreation" but said it wasn't so "alarmingly high to create a scare in the community, the E.Coli levels being higher than we expect with storm water runoff, high populations of geese, things like that, but it still warrants caution."
Caldwell added that the bacteria E. Coli is everywhere in our landscape. "I just want the community to know that's a pretty natural occurrence. Sometimes you can get too much or an abundance in an area that can, again, warrant caution. But this is not outside of something that just happens now and then."
The waters will be re-tested on Monday and officials said in the release they will determine then when the beach should be re-opened. In the meantime, the beach will remain closed until further notice.
River Forks Park and Campground is located at 3500 Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville.
River Forks Park and Campground is located at 3500 Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville.
