The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation started bacteria monitoring at selected beaches for the summer season. Water quality samples will be collected at recreational beaches in Ketchikan, Hoonah and Kenai.
Laura Eldred, Environmental Program Specialist for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation:
“We are monitoring two beaches in the Kenai area. The Kenai River North and Kenai River South beaches we’re looking at to evaluate the potential health risks by fecal coliform and enterococci bacteria. We also notify the public when the levels exceed state recreation standards.”
Eldred speaks on why Kenai was chosen:
“Kenai area beaches were identified as high priority recreational beaches through the Alaska Beach Survey. Also past monitoring has shown elevated levels of bacteria and we thought it’d be really good to come back again and learn more about the bacteria levels on these beaches to protect human health.”
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation states that past monitoring showed levels of bacteria from seagulls and other wildlife, humans and dogs.
“Monitoring will be out through the summer. May through September monitoring every other week. Samples are collected early in the week and the results are posted on the DEC webpage at beaches.alaska.gov. We post the results. We have an interactive map where people can look at the results. There’s also some other information on there. It’s a really great webpage just to check out if you’re going to be recreating on any of those beaches this summer.”
Also on that website as well as on the DEC’s Facebook and Twitter pages, you’ll see advisories if they’re issued for the beaches where test results show that bacteria levels exceed guidelines. The DEC BEACH Program is part of a nationwide effort to decrease the incidence of water-borne illnesses at public beaches under the federal Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health (BEACH) Act. This project has been funded in part by the United States EPA.