Belle Isle Beach reopens after unsafe bacteria levels 'back to normal'

Belle Isle Beach, a popular summer spot for Detroiters seeking to cool off and enjoy the island park, reopened Friday after testing showed safe levels of E.coli bacteria, just in time for the weekend, the park announced on social media.

"Water sample have come back and the results are back to normal," the state park, which comes under the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, posted on its Facebook page. "The beach is reopened today!"

The beach was closed after unsafe levels of the bacteria, short for Escherichia coli, were found.

The bacteria is in your intestines, but in large doses — especially if you go swimming in it — it can make you sick, causing diarrhea, urinary tract infections, pneumonia and other illnesses. It was unclear where the heightened levels came from, but it could have been caused by rain runoff and sewage.

Testing earlier this month on the 985-acre island park's sandy beach, which is in the middle of the Detroit River between the United States and Canada, found that bacteria levels were more than three times what is considered safe.

There was some controversy and concern, however, because the beach was not immediately ordered closed. There was a weekend delay in the closure that was explained as an oversight and miscommunication because more than one government agency was involved.

Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.