What's in the water could make you sick

WEST HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) --  What's in the water might be a health risk, but West Haven is allowing beach goers to swim at their own risk.

A hot summer day lead to the drowning of a 10-year-old girl in Lake Mohegan in an area not designated for swimming, but the lake was also closed because of high bacteria levels.

Maureen Lillis from local health department in West Haven was at Sea Bluff Beach collecting water samples to test for bacteria the day after heavy rainfall.

"Basically the bacteria comes from the outflow and just kicks everything up," she said.

Lillis says what's in the water could make you sick.

"We're looking for a bacteria called enteroccocus. It's fecal matter," she explained.     

Earlier this week, testing confirmed higher than normal levels, but the area is not closed off to the public.  

Instead the sign says to swim at your own risk.  

"If we thought there was something going on and we couldn't figure out what it was then we'd close it," Lillis said, "but for rain when you're pretty much guaranteed an elevated reading, it's going to be an advisory because it's not going to last all day."

Richard Allison was under the lone umbrella on the beach.

"I won't go in the water because of that," he said.

The advisory is a recent change in policy that many say is a good idea.

"As long as the people are able to then decide that they can enjoy the beach, you don't see a whole lot of people out here on a day like today but I'm enjoying it, it's relaxing but I'm glad they chose to do that," Allison said.

Another beach goer, Calvin Jackson agreed, saying, "The advisory is enough to put up a question mark to say I'm going to take my chances and stay away."

If you decide to get into the water and swallow it, you are at risk for gastroenteritis, often called stomach flu.