Bacteria levels in coastal Alabama waters remained largely safe through the first week of September after the Labor Day Holiday, based on the five sites that tested for high levels of bacteria. Only Orange Beach Waterfront Park, along Wolf Bay, was closed for construction.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management, the city of Daphne and Mobile Baykeeper all test the local waters at various locations for enterococcus, a bacteria that is a common cause of infections, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Both the Mobile Baykeeper and ADEM base their results on the same basic standard; The Mobile Baykeeper, which runs the Swim Where It’s Monitored (SWIM) program from April-September, measures the bacteria level as a “Most Probable Number” (MPN), a statistical measurement, whereas ADEM measures the level of enterococcus as number of bacteria colonies per 100 milliliters. According to the EPA, the “safe to swim” threshold for enterococcus is 104 per 100 mL.

When it comes to E. Coli, the EPA says the “safe to swim” threshold is 235 MPN, though E. Coli bacteria is only measured at one site.

Several sites did not have updated water quality testing results available. Those are listed as “Not updated” in the chart. Sites with the note “retest” means that the water was resampled a day later after the first water quality test came back with high levels of bacteria.