Swimming advisory issued for beach

Swimming is not recommended at a beach in Lake Country.

Interior Health has issued a swimming advisory for Reiswig Regional Park, which is operated by the Regional District of Central Okanagan, due to high bacteria counts in the water of Wood Lake.

“A swimming advisory is a notice to swimmers that bacterial levels are currently higher than those allowed in the guidelines for Canadian Recreational Water Quality. If water is ingested, swimmers may develop gastrointestinal illness, skin rashes, eye, ear and throat symptoms,” a news release from RDCO stated.

The very young, very old and people with weakened immunity are the most susceptible.

Signs will be posted at the beach.

“Once testing shows bacteria levels have returned to acceptable levels, the swimming advisory will be lifted and the signage removed.”

Protect yourself by:

• Avoiding swallowing lake water
• Avoiding swimming with an open cut or wound
• Avoiding swimming for 24-hours after a significant rainfall
• Staying away from the water if you are experiencing digestive or intestinal problems
• Washing your hands before handling food

RDCO staff collect water samples from a number of regional beaches for Interior Health to test and analyze. Beaches that have historically shown higher than acceptable e-coli counts from time to time during the summer months are sampled weekly, with at least five samples in a 30-day period.