![['Rainy weather kept beachgoers away on Monday, but despite what has been a wet summer lifeguards at Heather Beach say things are pretty much on par with last year when it comes to traffic. Darrell Cole – Amherst Daily News']](https://saltwire.imgix.net/weather-1805044.jpg?cs=srgb&fit=crop&h=568&w=847&dpr=1&auto=format%2Ccompress%2Cenhance)
NORTHPORT – It will be Friday at the earliest before Heather Beach is reopened to swimmers.
The popular beach between Northport and Pugwash was closed to swimmers on Monday following the detection of higher than normal levels of enterococci bacteria in water samples taken July 11.
Paul d’Eon, the director of the Nova Scotia Lifeguard Service, said additional water samples were taken at the beach on Tuesday and results should be known by Friday. If the result of that test is normal, he said, swimmers would be allowed to go back into the water.
“The beach will remain closed to swimmers until we get the results of the new tests,” d’Eon said.
However, he added, the beach will remain closed to swimmers should the tests show continued contamination above the standard.
Enterococci is the equivalent of ecoli bacteria, but in salt water, and is found in the feces of mammals.
d’Eon said there’s no explanation as to the bad result and he’s hoping it’s just a one-time thing. If the next set of tests are bad, he said, an investigation will be completed to determine the source of the bacteria.
“If it continues the Department of Environment will go in and do some investigation,” he said.
He said samples are collected from five locations across a 250-metre spectrum in front of the beach.
d’Eon said there are signs at Heather Beach informing people of the closures and members of the lifeguard service are on site telling people to stay out of the water – something he admitted is difficult to do when temperatures are around 30 C.
