The water at Golden Gardens will undergo its annual testing next week. The Washington Department of Ecology will be on the beach starting Monday, where they’ll test the beach’s water for bacteria that can make people sick.
Beach naturalists Cari Garand and David Hagert at Golden Gardens
The water testing is part of the federally funded Beach Environment Assessment, Communication and Health (BEACH) program which tests popular saltwater beaches for bacteria. The water testing program is jointly coordinated by the Department of Ecology and Health, and happens every year between May and September.
Seattle Public Utilities occasionally finds low levels of bacteria in the Golden Gardens beach water, usually due to heavy rainfall and stormwater runoff. We’ll update next week with the reports of BEACH’s water testing.
