ODH issues contamination advisory for Mosquito Lake beach

Staff report

CORTLAND

The Ohio Department of Health has issued a contamination advisory for the beach at Mosquito Lake State Park.

The advisory means the level of bad bacteria in the water has reached unsafe levels and could make a person sick.

The advisory means children, the elderly and those in ill health or with weakened immune systems are advised not to swim.

The Mosquito beach is one of 17 beaches in Ohio that currently have such an advisory. The state has 134 public beaches. The next nearest beach with an advisory is Edgecliff Beach in Cuyahoga County.

The advisory comes from the Ohio Department of Health’s BeachGuard, which monitors selected public and semi-private beaches in Ohio.

The BeachGuard website says a sample of water from June 3 indicated a bacteria level of 727 colonies of E coli bacteria per 100 milliliters of water. The reading for May 28 was 462, and the reading for May 21 was 24. The warning is triggered by a reading of 235 or more.

The lake did not have any bacteria recordings above 235 last summer and had three in 2013, including one of 2,420 on Aug. 29, 2013.