Effort Aims To Reduce E. Coli Closures at Bradford Beach

Bradford Beach. Photo taken 2020 by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County Parks is working to make sure water pollution never spoils your trip to the beach.

Parks is preparing to start a multi-year project aimed at reducing water contamination and beach closures at Bradford Beach and McKinley Beach.

Both beaches experience enough closures do to water contamination, primarily E. coli to meet the EPA’s definition for impaired and degraded. Between 2018 and 2022, Bradford Beach was under a swim advisory or closed for water quality issues approximately 12% of the swim season. The beach is the largest, and most popular, of the four public beaches in the county’s parks system. From 2016 to 2020, McKinley was closed or under advisory approximately 29% of the swim season.

The project is part of wide-ranging environmental cleanup and restoration effort in communities around the Great Lakes that have been designated Areas of Concern (AOC) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In Milwaukee, the focus is primarily on projects connected to the Milwaukee estuary, which is created by the confluence of the Kinnickinnic, Menomonee and Milwaukee Rivers.

The primary source of funding for the clean-up and habitat restoration projects comes from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which grants money to local projects through the EPA and state governments. In 2024, the project was awarded a $200,000 grant to begin planning a water-quality intervention at Bradford and McKinley Beaches.

Parks has responded to environmental degradation and water quality trouble at Bradford Beach in the past. Using dog patrols to clear out seagulls, regular algae removal, beach grooming and rain garden basins near stormwater outfalls E. Coli concentrations were reduced.

In 2021, the McLellan Lab at the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences created a list of recommendations for reducing water contamination. Parks plans work to use these to guide its AOC project.

At Bradford Beach, the ran gardens will be restored to better filter stormwater draining onto the beach. New sand will be added to fill in depressions where water can accumulate, and stagnate, creating and environment for bacteria to grow. The estimated project cost in 2021 was $1 million.

The primary issue for McKinley Beach is seagull poop. The general plan is to install some type of seagull deterring equipment on the breakwaters that line the beach. The estimated project cost was approximately $100,000 in 2021.

Milwaukee County Parks did not comment on growing uncertainty over the federal governments ability, or willingness, to follow through on funding commitments or grant programs under the new administration of President Donald Trump. The $200,000 grant agreement for the planning was signed in December 2024, the department said.

Shortly after coming into office, the president signed executive orders freezing congressionally-appropriated spending by government agencies including the EPA. The administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been laying off thousands of federal employees. On Wednesday, the president said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin indicated as much as 65% of the agency could be terminated.

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