Cherry Creek State Park’s designated swimming area is temporarily closed after a higher than allowable presence of E. coli bacteria was reported, officials announced Wednesday.

Chatfield State Park swim beach closed because of E. coli

The presence of the bacteria occurred during a routine water quality test required by the Colorado Board of Health and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. E. coli is found in human intestines and some animals, and most types are harmless but some can cause diarrhea if consumed in contaminated food or water. It is commonly associated with food poisoning.

The park’s water quality will continue to be tested daily and the swimming area will reopen once the bacteria return to an acceptable level, said Jason Clay, a spokesperson for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. 

“These closures are not a common occurrence, but can be caused by fecal waste from wildlife, run-off from urban areas, or excessive run-off from rain, which we have had a lot of lately,” Cherry Creek State Park Manager Jason Trujillo said in a news release. 

On Tuesday, the swimming beach at Chatfield State Park was closed because of the same problem after one of the two water readings showed higher than normal E. coli levels. 

The swimming beach reopened Wednesday following a retest that showed water quality had returned to a safe level, Clay said. 

“We had one irregular sample that caused us to close the swim beach on Tuesday out of an abundance of caution, but the rest of our samples this year have been below the maximum limit,” said Ben Vinci, Chatfield State Park operations manager. “With today’s results showing the levels are safe, we reopened our swim beach.”

The water quality samples are analyzed for E.coli and if the concentration level of the bacteria is above 235 organisms per 100 milliliters, the beach is required to close, according to a release from the state park department.

For information regarding Colorado natural swim area monitoring click here.