By Valerie Streeter, Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources Dept.
Bacteria levels at Mission Beach are very low this year! Harvey Eastman, Tulalip Water Quality Lab Manager, analyzes the weekly water samples collected by the Beach Watchers volunteers. The highest average so far was 7 mpn. Although previous years had levels lower than the 103 mpn limit threshold limit for swimming, there were spikes of higher bacterial levels at certain times.The first graph below shows the average results from the three beach sampling stations for this year. The red line shows the bacteria threshold limit (103 mpn/100mL) and the blue line is the average amount of bacteria in the water at Mission Beach for 2019. The second graph shows the results from the last three years. If bacterial levels are above the threshold limit, there are more chances for skin infections or stomach illness from too much pollution.
