FAIRHOPE, Ala. - Recent water quality tests conducted by the city at the beach front park and in Fly Creek have shown high levels of bacteria used to indicate pollution that can cause human illness.

“The bacterial count is very high in the duck pond,” Mayor Tim Kant told the City Council last week during its monthly public participation meeting. “It gets very high (in Fly Creek) on the (east) side of (U.S.) 98, and gets steadily worse further up (in the creek).”

The city began conducting water quality tests in addition to those performed by state and county agencies, following several swimming advisories issued this year by the state health department for the beach front park north of the municipal pier.

The fifth swimming advisory of the year for that area was issued last Friday. The warning was lifted the next day. Those public health warnings state that swimming in that area may lead to an increased risk of illness.

“The mayor wanted to find out where the bacteria and contaminants were coming from,” said Dan McCrory, superintendent of the water and sewer department. “The tests began several weeks ago and are ongoing.”

Preliminary water quality tests in the duck pond at the beach front park and at various locations in Fly Creek have shown high levels of water pollution indicators beyond legal limits, McCrory said.

“They are TNTC, or ‘Too Numerous To Count’” McCrory said of test results in some places for the contaminant indicator species enterococcus. “There are so many on the petri dish you can’t count them.”

McCrory said those results greatly exceeded the legal limit of 104 enterococcus organisms per 100 milliliters for marine water. Counts higher than that in successive testing require a swimming advisory, according to applicable law.

On July 13, the count at the beach was 400, according to state records, requiring a resample the next day. Results of 220 for July 14, which came back from the lab on July 15, resulted in the swimming advisory that day. Retesting that Friday showed a count of 22 when the results were learned Saturday. The swimming advisory was lifted based on that count within legal limits.

The highest count this year, leading to resampling and a swimming advisory was 720 on June 9. The swimming advisory was lifted when the next sample showed 68 on June 10.

The city’s test results in the duck pond and in Fly Creek far exceeded such legal limits, McCrory said.

The high counts did not stem from water quality problems at the city’s sewage system because testing there by the city showed minimal counts compared to that found elsewhere in the area, he said. A probable cause, instead, was nonpoint source pollution from stormwater runoff into the creek, pond and bay, he said.

The tests conducted by the city and state and county agencies use the same method, which only indicate the presence or absence of contaminants, McCrory said.

The city is considering using a private company to conduct tests that would indicate the source of the bacterial pollution commonly found in feces of mammals, he said.

“We’re trying to isolate where it’s coming from and, if so, what can be done about it to try and help eliminate it.”

After additional testing, the results will be released to the public, he said.