I finally remembered to contact Kellie Merrell about how the water testing at the beach is going.  She got right back to me saying she has been testing the water since Memorial Day and the bacteria count has been consistently low.  Therefore, it may be the samples that tested so high last year were held too long before being tested in the lab.  However, as Kellie said, we will probably never know.

The goose population is down this year, several faulty septic systems have been corrected, and probably people around the pond are considerably more aware than they may have been in previous years, so are watching carefully what may go into the water.  With all the rain we've had, we cannot do much about the runoff through culverts, etc., but we can be careful about putting chemicals on our lawns that will almost immediately wash into the water, thanks to the rainy weather.

We'll hope to have some sunshine during the Fourth holiday so folks can enjoy some time off and all the parades and activities going on everywhere.  Have fun, but please be careful with fireworks, boating and swimming.  We don't want your good time to be marred by someone being hurt.