Wake County officials closed the recreational swimming area at Beaverdam Beach on Falls Lake due to elevated levels of bacteria in the water.

As a result, on a hot Wednesday afternoon, Beaverdam was devoid of swimmers.

Five year old Tally Holloway had come to the lake with his parents and four year old brother to go swimming.

Then he found out the beach was closed.

 “It’s yucky. It has germs in it so we can’t go swimming now,” he complained.

County health officials say the problem was detected during a Monday test.

“On a routine check at Beaverdam Beach we noticed that lab results showed that the e-coli count was higher than the acceptable limit,” said Matthew Roylance, the deputy director of Wake County Environmental Services.

Because of the elevated bacteria, “we closed down the beach,” he said.

That meant the only water that would wet the Holloway kids would be water from their squirt guns that they sprayed on each other along the beach shoreline.

“It’s pretty disappointing,” said their mother Jennifer. “We come here often to go swimming, so we’ll just have to make the best of it.”

Fishing is still allowed at the beach and Jon Holloway intended to do some.

He said he would not be afraid to eat anything he caught at the beach despite the elevated bacteria saying, “it's Raleigh’s drinking supply, so it can't be that bad.”

The closure at Beaverdam Beach isn’t the first.  High bacterial counts also shut it down the recreation area in the first week of June

“It’s been on and off all summer so you get used to it after a while, said beach-goer Barry Holloway.

Environmental officials say the primary reason the area was closed it for swimming was because of mouth contact.

“If you accidently swallowed a large amount of water you’d get real sick,” said Roylance. “It wouldn’t be an urgent thing but your stomach wouldn’t be very happy.”

Although the area does remain open for boating, fishing, water skiing and the like officials do recommend anyone who comes in contact with the lake water wash themselves thoroughly with soap and water.

Officials say the beach will be reopened after they get two consecutive acceptable samples.