Echo Lake swimming / fishing beach closed due to high levels of bacteria from wildfowl

Echo Lake beach closed
Photo by Pat Deagan

The Echo Lake swimming beach is currently closed for recreational activities due to high levels of bacteria. The signs indicating closure were placed by the city of Shoreline just before 9:00am on Thursday. 

People and pets should not swim or wade at this beach, drink lake water, or engage in other water-contact activities.

The closure applies only to the beach area and not to the entire lake.

During the sampling event on Tuesday the 15th, there was a large amount of duck/goose poop present, so it’s almost certainly the source. Staff have removed as much of the waste as possible from the beach area.

A resident observed that a large transitory group of ducks have been in the area recently, so this explains the excessive amount of waste that was observed.

Wildfowl routinely visit the lake but they stay and increase their numbers when people feed them.

On Monday the water will be resampled.