Wednesday, July 29, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN — The Mahoning County District Board of Health today collected water samples from Mill Creek Park’s Lake Newport to test for E. coli, marking the beginning of an official testing program.
An environmental health technician for the health board collected three samples from each of three separate locations in the lake. Those samples will be tested at a health board laboratory in Austintown, and results will be available within 24 hours.
The goal, health board officials say, is to establish what the baseline level of E. coli is for the lake. Testing protocol was developed after a previous health board test found elevated levels of the bacteria in Lake Newport, leading Mill Creek MetroParks on July 10 to close lakes Newport, Cohasset and Glacier to the public until further notice.
The lakes previously were used for recreational activities such as fishing and boating.
That initial round of testing followed a massive fish kill in Lake Newport at the end of June.
For the complete story, read Thursday's Vindicator and Vindy.com