It appears that a dirty diaper is what led to concerns last week that Waterfront Park’s beach may be contaminated.
On Tuesday, the Kitsap County Health District took a water sample near the castaway diaper, which may have drifted up or been tossed on the Eagle Harbor park’s shore. Test results showed the water contained unhealthy levels of bacteria.
An announcement of the results by the state Department of Ecology led to some concerns that the beach would be closed.
But a second sample taken shortly after the diaper was removed showed the beach’s bacteria levels had returned to normal.
The diaper had essentially created a small “hot spot” near where the samples happened to have been taken.
“It’s quite a nasty thing,” health district water quality specialist Stuart Whitford said of the diaper. “I can’t believe someone would do that, but maybe it popped off some kid.”
The health district has a position on non-potty trained children frolicking on public beaches.
“The health district advises that if a toddler is not toilet trained, they not swim at a public beach,” Whitford said.
Whitford believes the bacteria died off fairly quickly.
“Because it’s saltwater and there was a lot of sunlight, nature took care of the contamination,” he said.
