Bacteria threatens popular trail near Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS ( KLAS )—The National Park Service announced Wednesday that it could close a popular hiking trail near Las Vegas if bacterial contamination levels rise.

According to the National Park Service, water quality monitoring at the Arizona Hot Springs, located near the Arizona-Nevada border and the Colorado River, showed increased levels of several types of bacterial contamination, including fecal coliform, enterococci, and E. coli.

Those levels exceeded local, state, and NPS standards for recreational activities, the Lake Mead National Recreation Area wrote on its Facebook page .

NPS initiated “enhanced monitoring,” but if levels continue to rise, it said it will close the hot springs until they decrease to safer levels.

In October, NPS closed the hot springs for a week due to high bacteria levels. During that time, sandbags were removed to allow the water to flow freely, which helped bacteria levels go down.

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