Health officials test Lake Newport for E. coli

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County District Board of Health staff are out at Lake Newport in Mill Creek Park today to test for E. coli.

Workers are set to begin taking water samples at locations at the southern, middle and northern parts of the lake. Three samples will be taken at each spot, then taken to a laboratory for testing.

This round of testing, which will last 12 weeks, is to establish a baseline level of E. coli in the lake. 

This follows an earlier board of health test that found elevated levels of E. coli in the water, leading Mill Creek MetroParks to close lakes Newport, Cohasset and Glacier until further notice.

That test followed an earlier fish kill at the end of June that later was determined to be caused primarily by overflows from the city's combined storm and sanitary sewer system.