Five local beaches now don the ‘no-swimming’ sign and other two have been placed under the advisory after the McHenry County Department of Health tested the beaches for E. coli and were found positive.

The beaches that are closed are West Park Beach, 2400 Lake Ave., Crystal Lake; Main Beach, 300 Lake Shore Drive, Crystal Lake; Park and Beach, 4811 Orchard Drive, McCullom Lake; Sunrise Ridge, 19609 Harmony Road, Marengo3800 West Lake Shore Drive, Wonder Lake; and Lehman's Beach at Lehman's Lakeside RV Resort.

The beaches that have been placed on advisory, cover, Lake Shore Beach, 840 Lake St., Crystal Lake; and Wonder Woods 2, 5606 Woodlane, Wonder Lake.

All the beaches with licenses on the 13 lakes in McHenry County are tested once every two weeks for testing E. coli presence all through the summers, so as to decide on whether the quality of water is of safe level or not.

The health department is of the suggestion that people should avoid swimming at least for two to three days after it has rained heavily.

The health department reported E. coli levels were at 453.52 per 100 milliliters of water on Wednesday in Holland State Park that was quite higher than the 300 verge, which is deemed safe for swimming.