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Lake Newport became a cesspool
YOUNGSTOWN
People and wildlife using Lake Newport this summer have been subjected to a cesspool of sewer discharge bacteria found in feces.
Recent E. coli measurements the city reported in Lake Newport water samples are many times the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency threshold count of 576 per 100 milliliters of water, which signals a potential public health risk.
One measurement is more than seven times the OEPA threshold count.
One hundred milliliters is about 3.4 ounces.
Some of the city’s readings far exceed levels found in the samples taken Thursday by the Mahoning County District Board of Health that triggered closure of Mill Creek Park lakes Newport, Cohasset and Glacier to recreational use late Friday.
On July 8, a city wastewater official reported E. coli levels of 2,800 in a feed stream to the Newport Wetlands, which are at the south end of the lake; 1,600 in a shallow lagoon, and 2,750 at a boat dock.
Another set of July 8 results showed E. coli levels of more than 4,520 in the feed stream, 700 in the lagoon, and more than 4,120 at the boat dock.
The city’s Thursday results from five water samples, which ranged from 200 at the boat-rental house to 1,100 in the middle of the lake, showed improvement, with only the result from the middle of the lake exceeding the OEPA threshold.
County BOH samples collected Thursday ranged from 388 to 1,200, with five of seven samples exceeding 576.
Results are not yet available from the city’s Monday tests.
The city provided the data Tuesday to The Vindicator, which asked for the information Monday in a public-records request.
City Law Director Martin Hume said, “It’s not uncommon to be over the limit,” adding that last month there were 28 water sources in the state that exceeded the E. coli limit.
“Nobody wants people to get sick, and there’s no doubt that E. coli is harmful to human health,” Hume said. “We’re doing the best we can to deal with this.”
An OEPA emergency responder reported June 29 the massive Lake Newport fish kill was caused by a discharge of more than 100,000 gallons of sewage during the final weekend of June. The OEPA later officially confirmed the city’s sewage discharge due to heavy rains as the primary cause of the fish kill.
Two combined city storm and sanitary sewer overflows discharge into the north end of Lake Newport.
The one on the east side of the lake at Ferndale and Glenwood avenues discharges an average of 10.6 times a year for a total average annual discharge of nearly 21 million gallons over 69.5 hours during the year.
The one on West Newport Drive discharges an average of 10 times a year for a total of slightly more than 2 million gallons a year over a total of 57.4 hours during the year.
There are other sources that could have contributed to the problems, including animal waste and sediment,” Hume said.
“There are things from Boardman coming into the lake,” he said. “There are other contributing factors.”
No decisions have been made concerning the frequency of follow-up testing, number and location of water samples to be tested and who will collect and test the samples, Patricia Sweeney, county health commissioner, said Tuesday.
Also, it hasn’t been determined how many favorable test results over what time period will be needed to reopen the park’s lakes to recreational use, she said.
“We’re going to have a conversation with the Ohio EPA and establish a testing protocol,” she said.
There’s no evidence that poor water quality in the Mill Creek Park lakes has recently made anyone sick, Sweeney added.
Testing issues will be addressed in a Thursday meeting involving city, county health board, OEPA and park officials, said Anthony Donofrio, deputy city law director.
The park is ultimately responsible for determining when the lakes will reopen, he said.
John Pierko, the MS Consultants Inc. engineer, who wrote the “City of Youngstown, Ohio, Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan” issued last December, said he does not know why such a massive fish kill occurred this year but not in previous years, during which the overflows were discharging into Lake Newport.
The city sewer system has 101 combined sewer overflows, 14 of them discharging into Mill Creek or its lakes or a creek tributary.
An agreement between the city and OEPA and the U.S. EPA calls for substantial completion by the end of 2033 of $146 million in improvements over 20 years to its wastewater system, including a $48 million upgrade to avoid sewage discharges into Mill Creek and the park lakes along it. The Mill Creek interceptor project is slated for design work in 2020.
If the current system did not have built-in overflows, the sewer system and wastewater treatment plant would be overwhelmed during heavy rains, Pierko said.
Donofrio said the city doesn’t have “precise information” as to how many times so far this year the overflows have discharged into Mill Creek Park.
The city doesn’t have electronic monitoring equipment at the discharge points, and OEPA doesn’t require such monitoring, he said.
Grant funding is not now available to the city to pay for sewer improvements, but the city may be eligible for reduced interest loans, Donofrio said.
“There’s much more loan money available than grant money,” Hume said.
Mayor John A. McNally wrote the federal EPA on Feb. 10 requesting financial assistance for the $146 million project. A March 12 response from an EPA official made suggestions but was noncommittal.
The first paragraph of the city’s long-term control plan says sewer users will pay for the OEPA’s “unfunded mandate” of improvements through rate increases.
A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Cincinnati-area Republican, said Tuesday the senator’s “office stands ready to assist the city of Youngstown and is in contact with the MetroParks and the mayor’s office.”
A day earlier, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, said he also was looking to find federal financial assistance but didn’t know if there is any.
Contributor: David Skolnick, staff writer