The Seattle and King County Public Health Department has directed the closure of water access at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park swim area.

On Aug. 19, the city of Renton’s Facebook page announced they had been directed to close the swim area at Gene Coulon Park due to elevated bacteria levels identified in recent testing.

The city said the swim area will remain closed until water quality improves. The conditions will be reevaluated after additional sampling scheduled for next week.

According to the King County website, samples from Gene Coulon Beach, collected on Aug. 18, raised the 30-day geometric mean bacteria to 101 colony forming units per 100 milliliter, with readings of 200, 320 and 470 CFU/ 100 mL.

“The 30-day geometric mean is one way to average all the bacteria results from the past 30 days,” the website reads. “If the 30-day geometric mean bacteria is above 100 bacteria/100 mL, or if there are 2 or more high bacteria samples in the past 30 days, Public Health will generally recommend that people stay out of the water at that beach.”

The bacteria levels indicate whether there is poop in the water from people, pets, or wildlife that can carry harmful germs, according to the website. The bacteria they test for is a harmless bacteria found in the poop of all warm-blooded animals and can allow them to predict the chance people will get sick from other germs that might be in the water.