Two days after shutting the town beach on Sebago Lake due to an unusually high E. coli count, Raymond health officials reopened the beach around 3 p.m. Friday after finding that the E. coli count had dropped to safe levels.
On Wednesday, the Portland Water District, which tests different areas of Sebago Lake weekly, notified town officials that the E. coli colony-forming unit (CFU) count in the waters off Raymond Beach had registered at 441, which is 206 units higher than the accepted limit of 235. Town officials closed the beach that afternoon.
On Thursday, Raymond officials tested the water near the beach. The results arrived Friday afternoon, showing an E. coli count of 49 CFU, well below the danger limit, according to Cathy Gosselin, Raymond’s town health officer and deputy chief of the fire department.
Raymond last shut down the beach in 2010, again due to a high E. coli count, Gosselin said. The E. coli count at the beach usually measures near 50 CFU, she said.
Gosselin, who has worked for the town since 1998, said she recalls the beach only being closed twice before. In general, she said, it is difficult to pinpoint why the E. Coli counts suddenly jump.
“It’s a cove,” she said. “It’s Fourth of July, so it was very busy over the hot weather. It’s next to the boat ramp. A boat could have spilled something. There could be a lot of ducks or animals in the water.”
“We’re never going to really know,” she added.
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