City of Milwaukee Beach Water Quality

The City of Milwaukee Health Department, along with the UW-Milwaukee Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, conducts water sampling and analysis from Memorial Day to Labor Day at each of the city's three public beaches in order to issue beach water quality updates daily. These updates are issued daily for Bradford, McKinley, and South Shore beaches. Testing is done on samples from each beach to determine levels of E. coli, a micro-organism which is persistent in many parts of the environment.

While E. coli is normally found in bodies of water, elevated levels can raise health concerns. Symptoms such as upset stomach, nausea, vomiting, headache and fever can result from exposure to disease causing organisms in lake water. Infections of the eye, ear, and throat, as well as more serious illnesses may also occur. 

Elevated levels of E. coli can develop due to many circumstances: human or animal activity in or near the water, rain water washing waste or debris into the water, or discharges of incompletely treated wastewaters from nearby water treatment plants.

Beach Water Quality Alerts

The City of Milwaukee Health Department, in coordination with the UW-Milwaukee Joseph J. Zilber School of Public Health, conducts water sampling and microbe analysis from Memorial Day to Labor Day at the city's public beaches. This information is integrated with data on recent rainfall and any human-caused events in Lake Michigan or the watershed that may affect water quality for swimmers and other recreational users. Based on these analyses, daily beach water quality updates are posted at the beaches and at Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources “Wisconsin Beach Health.”