43
E. coli counts drop in Mill Creek Park waters
YOUNGSTOWN
Mill Creek and Lake Newport water samples collected show low levels of E. coli bacteria, the Mahoning County District Board of Health reported late Thursday after incubating the samples for 24 hours in its lab.
E. coli counts were 127, 123 and 101, respectively, in three samples collected Wednesday at the footbridge over Mill Creek just north of Shields Road.
The readings were much lower in the sunnier lake area.
The counts were 2, 2 and 1, respectively, in three samples taken at the East Newport Boat Launch on the east side of Lake Newport.
At the boat-rental house on the west side of the lake, the counts were 1 and two readings of less than 1 colony-forming E. coli unit.
The Ohio EPA says levels above 576 present a potential public health risk.
E. coli bacteria are measured in counts per 100 milliliters of water. One hundred milliliters is 3.4 ounces.
County Health Commissioner Patricia Sweeney and Ryan Tekac, environmental health director, cautioned against drawing premature conclusions about the water quality, noting that this is the first of 12 weekly sample groups to be taken.
Tekac noted, however, the low counts this week are occurring under dry and sunny conditions.
Sunny weather “helps to kill the bacteria,” Sweeney said.
The shallowness of the creek and shade of trees overhanging it, plus the increased animal activity and droppings in the more-secluded creek area, may explain the higher E. coli counts at the bridge over the creek, Tekac said.
E. coli bacteria are found in sewage and mammal feces.
Mill Creek MetroParks officials closed three lakes – Newport, Cohasset and Glacier – indefinitely to recreational use July 10 due to high E. coli counts reported by the health board that day, ranging from 388 to 1,200. Five of seven samples reported then exceeded 576.
Aaron Young, MetroParks executive director, said the lakes will remain closed indefinitely pending further test results.
“Although we’re encouraged by the results of today, it is only the first step in a series of tests that need to take place,” he said Thursday evening.
“I’d like to see a consistency of some sort that tells me what the natural level of that lake [Newport] is,” and some test results after rain events, he said.
If a pattern develops in which E. coli levels regularly peak after rain events, it might be possible to reopen the lakes, but the public would be warned that E. coli levels might spike after it rains, he explained.
The high readings reported July 10 followed a massive Lake Newport fish kill, which the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency attributed primarily to combined city storm and sanitary sewer overflow discharges after heavy rains in late June.
Mill Creek MetroParks is paying the health board $3,000 to collect and test three water samples a week from each of the three locations for E. coli over 12 weeks. Additional samples will be collected 24 to 48 hours after rain events.
“This is a single point in time. We’ve had dry weather. We’ve had hot weather and sunshine. The whole point of testing this every week is to be able to see how this works out over the balance of the season,” Sweeney said.
Although he properly used separate sterile bottles to collect Wednesday’s samples and sanitized his hands between sampling locations, the health board technician should have been wearing gloves to protect himself when he collected the samples, Tekac said.
He has been instructed to wear gloves in future sampling in accordance with U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, Tekac said.
Tekac said the technician’s failure to wear gloves Wednesday, however, did not contaminate the water samples.
News photos and video showed the technician collecting a water sample without gloves.