FAIRHOPE, Ala. - A swimming advisory for Fairhope’s beach front park was lifted Saturday, after results that day from water quality tests taken Friday met legal limits, according to a county health department news release.

The July 15 swimming advisory was the fifth issued this year by the health department. County officials said the cause of the recurring advisories remains unclear.

Several weeks ago the city of Fairhope began conducting its own tests to find a cause for the advisories, which warn swimmers that disease-causing germs could be present in the water.

City staff said Fairhope’s aging sewage treatment system was not the cause of the advisories. Instead, possible sources of the contaminants are stormwater runoff and a heavy concentration of waterfowl living year-round at the beach front park, staff said.