Sunday eeting will address sewage ditches that empty into Mosquito Lake

Officials say the bacteria level in the water is low.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BAZETTA -- The Mosquito Lake Association will meet Sunday to discuss concerns about two ditches full of foul water that empty into Mosquito Lake.
Cecil Hunt, a spokesman for the group of about 50 fishermen and boaters, is convinced the water contains untreated sewage from two to four homes on Housel-Craft and Everett-Hull roads.
"They are raping the lake, basically," said the Coast Guard retiree. "If you see it, there will be no doubt in your mind. It is an open ditch, going into the lake."
A representative from the Trumbull County Board of Health and Rocco Greco, Mosquito Lake State Park manager, will be at the meeting Sunday at 7 p.m. at the Bazetta Township building on state Route 5.
Monitoring the problem: Greco is concerned, but he said the lake water is basically clean.
"It has been an ongoing problem up there for years," he said. "The health department is actively investigating there."
No one at the county health department could be reached. The director, assistant director, and director of environmental health were all unreachable Friday.
Greco said any problem from these ditches has been offset by the volume of water in the lake.
The park has not had to close beaches or ask people to avoid eating fish from the lake for several years, he said.
Samples OK: Lake water also gets high marks from the Warren City Water Department, which pipes treated water from Mosquito Lake to consumers in Warren, Howland, Champion, Bazetta and to the Lordstown General Motors plant.
Weekly samples of untreated water from the lake have turned up only a very small amount of coliforms, microbes that chemists look at to determine if other bacteria from human or animal waste is present, said John Sherwood, operations supervisor at the city plant.
The last test on Monday found eight microbes in 100 milliliters of untreated water, far below EPA requirements and less than any water test conducted last year, he said.