Mill Creek Park lakes' closures frustrates executive director

YOUNGSTOWN — The executive director of Mill Creek MetroParks expressed frustration that more can’t be done sooner to stop city sewage from polluting the park’s lakes.

“We should not be asked to wait another 20 years,” Aaron Young said at a news conference late Friday night speaking about the city’s plan to make needed treatment plant improvements by the end of 2033.

In response to test results from the Mahoning County District Board of Health lab, which showed high E-coli bacteria levels in Lake Newport water samples, Mill Creek MetroParks closed Lakes Newport, Cohasset and Glacier today for public use until further notice.

The health board took seven water samples Thursday from throughout Lake Newport, after a massive fish kill in that lake due to a city sewer overflow, and reported the results late this afternoon after a 24-hour incubation period in the Austintown lab.

E-coli are bacteria found in the feces of humans and other warm-blooded animals.

Three BOH members on the phone and one in the board office convened in a special meeting late this afternoon and unanimously recommended park officials bar all recreational use of the lakes, said County Health Commissioner Patricia Sweeney.

To protect public health, the BOH recommended such use “should cease until further testing” is conducted, Sweeney said.

In the seven samples, E-coli counts per 100 milliliters of lake water ranged from 388 to 1200, Sweeney reported.

One hundred milliliters is about 3.4 ounces.

For the complete story, read Saturday's Vindicator and Vindy.com