The Main Lake and its beaches in the Lake of the Woods neighborhood have reopened, while Keaton’s Lake remains closed.
Last month, a storm damaged Rapidan Service Authority’s (RSA) vacuum sewer collection state at the Lake of the Woods back gate. Initially, it was thought a small amount of sewage had passed through and may have been released into the community’s Main Lake via flood waters. That was later found to be false according to RSA officials, but it triggered increased testing in both the 500-acre manmade Main Lake and the 24-acre Keaton’s Lake.
For several weeks, test levels revealed higher than usual E.coli concentrations, intermittently closing the lakes and several beaches. Virginia Department of Health’s safe E.coli level is 235 CFU/100mL or less.
As of last week, E.coli levels had dropped within the safe limits at most locations except for the Clubhouse Beach. Now, that beach has also reopened. July 11 test results for the beach were 30.1 CFU/100 mL, well below the safe limit.
However, Keaton’s Lake remains closed due to harmful algae blooms. On June 30, Keaton’s Lake was closed due to test results indicating potentially toxic cyanobacteria (PTOX) concentrations ranging from 22,600-89,900 cells/mL. The neighborhood’s protocol closes a lake at PTOX values greater than 50,000 cells/mL. Control treatments were being applied. Testing samples collected July 8 showed an average PTOX cell density of 1,190 cells/mL with the highest result of 1,500 cells/mL across three testing locations. Consistent with the neighborhood’s protocol, the lake will remain closed until a second round of testing confirms levels are below the safe threshold for reopening. Samples were collected July 15 with results expected back by the end of this week or early next week. On Wednesday, SOLitude conducted a second phase of the two-part treatment.
According to LOW Officials, elevated bacteria levels are not unusual after heavy rainfall due to stormwater runoff entering the lake. This can cause E.coli levels to spike quickly, officials said. No single source of bacteria has been identified and officials said it may not be possible to identify one. However, officials said they are in close contact with RSA which continues to monitor its systems in collaboration with the Lake of the Woods Association.
