The temperature will approach summer like numbers this weekend and it could be perfect swimming weather. Where you do your swimming, of course, is up to you. One option is Lake Pontchartrain, but that option comes with caveats.
On Wednesday’s edition of WWL First News with Tommy Tucker the water quality program director at the Pontchartrain Conservancy joined the show. Brady Skaggs says practically all the rainwater that falls on the south shore of the lake ultimately gets pumped into the lake. With that understanding, Skaggs says anyone choosing to swim in the lake should time their swims appropriately.
“Usually, we don’t recommend or don’t suggest that you go out and swim for up to three days after a rain storm. It’s not a good time because storm water can come into contact with some sewerage material and we see high fecal loads in the lake after a storm. So, when we go do our routine monitoring, we’ll usually see fecal coliform counts that are much higher than what we usually see on a sunny day,” Skaggs told Tucker.
Listen to the entire conversation, including whether the lake is safe to swim and where storm water on the north shore ends up: