Battle Ground Lake health advisory lifted

Clark County swimmers can rejoice with one body of water returning to normal status and another getting positive test results during this week’s heat wave.

Battle Ground Lake had its swim beach warning lifted Thursday by Clark County Public Health, and Vancouver Lake received test results that showed its water is within acceptable quality levels, even though it will still have warning signs posted as long as the blue-green algae remains.

Battle Ground Lake was being tested as a potential source of two cases of shigellosis bacteria, a bacterial infection spread through fecal-oral transmission. The lake was never closed, but the swim beach was placed under an advisory. Warning signs were put up outside the lake and have been taken down.

The recent heat wave might factor into the abnormal simultaneous warning status that three Clark County bodies of water — Battle Ground Lake, Vancouver Lake and Klineline Pond — were placed under in the last week.

After recording two days with high temperatures in the 90s by this time last year, Vancouver has already logged 10 days of 90 degrees or higher this month. The scheduled forecast predicts that streak will reach 15 days before Vancouver encounters a slightly cooler 89 degree-high on Tuesday.

Vancouver Lake’s algae bloom is fed by heat and sunlight. Battle Ground Lake and Klineline Pond, which had one of five test samples return with elevated levels of E. coli, are more popular when the temperatures rise. The pond and the lake are relatively shallow, and they don’t have the same levels of circulation as bigger bodies of water.

Klineline Pond remains open, and under warning. Four of the five samples came back within acceptable water quality levels. Another round of samples is being processed, and health officials should know results before the end of the week, according to a department press release.