State beach at Lake Wyola closed to swimming due to high bacteria levels

Lake Wyola State Park, pictured in 2023, is now closed due to high levels of bacteria in the water.

Lake Wyola State Park, pictured in 2023, is now closed due to high levels of bacteria in the water. FILE PHOTO

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 08-07-2024 5:15 PM

SHUTESBURY — Lake Wyola State Park’s beach continues to be closed to swimming this week due to high levels of Enterococci bacteria, with red flags placed on the beach and visitors informed about the situation at both the park entrance and by lifeguards, according to an official with the Department of Conservation and Recreation.

With the fresh water lake tested every Tuesday, officials are not anticipating that this week’s results will allow for swimming, said Madison Kimball, a laborer 1 for the state department that oversees the Carroll A. Holmes Recreation Area.

Kimball explained that the first test showing that freshwater single sample of 61 colony forming units per 100 milliliters was exceeded occurred on July 17. While a single sample may fall below this, the state park also use a second metric for the swimming area, the 30-day geomean threshold of 33 colony forming units per 100 milliliters.

Due to last week’s single sample being very high, over 150 colony forming units per 100 milliliters, Kimball said the geomean will likely remain too high to allow swimming.

Kimball said that recent rainfall that has put bacteria and other debris into the water is likely to keep the Enterococci levels high, but it is hard to say whether the closure will be in effect through the remainder of the warm weather season.

“That is pretty difficult to predict because there are many factors that can increase bacteria,” Kimball said.

Area beaches closed

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Interactive Beach Dashboard on Wednesday showed that 49 beaches across the state are closed, with two in Amherst, both Puffer’s Pond in North Amherst and the “Jump Bridge” swimming hole off Stanley Street, also due to high bacteria, though in both cases due to high levels of E. coli.

Others in the region that are currently closed are the Greenfield Municipal Bathing Beach and Ellis Beach in Athol, both also due to “bacterial exceedance.”

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But a number of beaches that have their water tested weekly remain open to swimmers throughout Hampshire County and southern Franklin County.

Those include Musante Beach in Northampton, Town Beach in Belchertown, Tri-Town Beach in Whately, Tolgy Wood Camp in Chesterfield, Upper Highland Lake, or Campers’ Beach, at the DAR State Forest in Goshen and Plainfield Pond in Plainfield.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.