PEDRO — Those who have recently been near the beach area of Lake Vesuvius probably noticed that it has been closed due to the high bacteria in the water.

“The bacteria count was high where we test the water around the beach,” Tim Slone, Wayne National Forest Ironton District Ranger, said. “We take samples on the 22nd of each month.”

Slone said he is hoping the beach can reopen by this weekend. The WNF takes its own samples, but sends it to a lab for testing.

“We have to keep it closed until we get five clean water samples,” Slone said. “We took more samples today (Monday) and we are hoping to have five clean samples taken by the weekend. I suspect that it will be good, but we’ll see.”

An update on the water at Lake Vesuvius will be given later in the week.