Beach season officially kicks off Saturday at Crystal Lake Main Beach, and officials hope newly installed technology will prevent closures the park district experienced last summer due to elevated bacteria levels.

Last year, Main Beach hit major snags with elevated E.coli levels, forcing several temporary closures, sometimes spanning multiple days, for a total of 14 days.

There are a variety of reasons for elevated levels of bacteria in the water, including storm runoff from rainfall, agricultural runoff, wild and domestic animal waste, bather defecation and wastewater.

Park District staff are aiming to make sure this summer isn’t a repeat of last year. To reduce goose waste in the water, the park district installed a light system that uses solar-powered, slow-pulsing amber lights to discourage geese from gathering overnight at the beach.

“Last year, we lost several weeks of operation to elevated bacteria levels, and the county said one of the main culprits of that is geese,” interim Executive Director Kurt Reckamp said.

Called Away With Geese, the system disrupts sleep patterns by striking a low-emitting light at eye-level of the geese without being obtrusive to nearby residents.

“At night, it may resemble a faint distant cigarette light or a slow-flashing construction beacon,” Crystal Lake Park District staff wrote in a Facebook post.

According to the Away With Geese website, the birds usually sleep with one eye or both eyes open. The lights disrupt their sleep, encouraging geese to set up their home in a different location.

The Park District installed four lights in the water and two on piers. The system purchase was part of the budget, totaling approximately $2,500, Reckamp said.

How effective the light system is will be determined as the summer progresses. The 26-year-old nationwide company boasts a “97% success rate” on its website.

“Anecdotally, I heard that the nighttime crew saw some of them and saw the geese leave,” Reckamp said during a park board meeting Monday. “Whether that’s a long-term solution or not, I’ll be able to report back to you in a couple of months.”

The company typically works with residences, golf courses, public parks and commercial businesses, but Reckamp is unsure if any neighboring municipalities use the system.

“Locally, we may be one of the first in the area,” Reckamp said.

If the lights don’t do enough, the park district also relies on more traditional methods to ward off high bacteria rates. An annual treatment of the lake was just completed last week, and staff will continually clean the beaches throughout the season.

Another positive factor this year is the higher water levels due to the significant amount of rain the city received over the spring. Those higher levels are favorable in watering down bacteria levels.

The status of the beach is updated daily on the Rainout Line site at crystallakeparks.org/rainoutline.

Crystal Lake Main Beach will be open this weekend from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through Monday. Starting Tuesday, the hours will be from noon to 5 p.m. until the regular season hours, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., begin on May 30 and run through Aug. 7. West Beach swim area, located at 2330 Lake Ave., opens May 30.

Plenty of summer events will be held at Main Beach, including the weekly Tuesday concerts in the park. An “Aloha Summer” beach event for ages 21 and older will be June 5, and the Crystal Lake Parks Initiative Foundation’s Cardboard Regatta returns July 18.

“It’s going to be a great summer,” Reckamp said.