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Water officials test for E. coli at Mountain Island Lake

Swimmers are being warned to stay out of Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wylie after 100,000 gallons of raw sewage went into the water.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Mecklenburg County Department of Storm Water Services tested the water is Mountain Island Lake looking for E.coli on Friday.

Dave Ferguson is a Senior Environmental Specialist with the Department and said, “If you ingest it (E.coli) or get it in you, it could cause you to get sick.”

Swimmers are being warned to stay out of the water at Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wylie after 100,000 gallons of raw sewage went into the water, a result of last weekends heavy rain.

The water could be harmful to anyone with any kind of open wound or scratch.

With the weather expected to be near perfect this weekend, a number of people, like John Donaldson can be expected to put their boats in the water.

Donaldson said, however, “I saw the water safety boats coming out from the county so I probably won’t swim in it for a while.”

The results of the water sample tests should be completed sometime on Saturday, Ferguson said, adding, “We can let the public know what we find. I expect it will be clean.”

Mountain Island Lake supplies much of the surrounding area with drinking water. The water is heavily filtered and county officials say it is safe to drink despite the sewage spill.

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