High Bacteria Levels Have Closed Some Michigan Beaches this Summe

When summer weather hit's we head to the beach. This summer, some of our favorite beaches have been closed due to bacteria levels.

Heading off to the beach? Usually, our main concerns are, sunscreen, water, beach towels, nowadays it is a good idea to check and make sure that your beach is actually open for swimming.

Michigans county health departments do water quality tests throughout the summer, in fact, those tests are done usually 3 times a month so they can be sure the results are reliable.

Grand Traverse Bay recently took a hit when 200 gallons of raw sewage spilled into it. This happened last Monday in Traverse City. The beach affected was Bryant Beach.

As of last Thursday, there were 13 beach closures in Michigan.

Handsome Lake, Oakland County. Closed since early July due to high bacteria levels from wildlife.

Crooked Lake, also in Oakland County. They are dealing with high bacteria levels due to runoff issues.

Ontonagon County Public Shoreline Beach, Lake Superior. Closure due to high bacteria levels.

Wixom Lake, Midland County. Wixom Waters has been closed since mid-July due to high bacteria levels.

Saginaw Bay, Singing Bridge Beach. This Lake Huron beach was closed due to high bacteria levels. This beach had also closed in late June for the same reason.

Kiwanis Beach, Mackinaw County has closed due to bacteria levels.

Lake Superior, Sandy Bottom Beach in Houghton County. The beach was closed due to high bacteria levels.

Wolf' Lake in Muskegon County was closed down to a contamination advisory.

Houghton Lakes Lakeview Park in Roscommon County closed due to bacteria levels.

Ross lakes Beaverton CityPark in Gladwin County also had high bacteria levels.

Callis lake in Genessee County, Lake Callis Beach closed after testing for high bacteria levels from an unknown source.

Lake St. Clair, St. Clair Shores Memorial Park Beach dealing with high bacteria levels. This is not the first time this summer, they also tested positive back in mid-June.

Pontiac lakes Pontiac Recreation Area. This beach has also been closed earlier this summer, back in mid-June and mid-July for high bacteria levels.

If you plan to pack up the family and head off to one of our state's amazing beaches, it is probably good to check the Beach Guard website. There you will find a complete list of who is closed down and who is open.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.