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Test results from Mill Creek watershed show elevated E. coli levels
YOUNGSTOWN
Results from week 10 of the 12-week testing program at Lake Newport, released Friday by the Mahoning County District Board of Health, showed elevated levels of E. coli at each of the three original test sites and six additional exploratory sites throughout the Mill Creek watershed.
“The results from all nine samples were elevated for E. coli with seven of the nine samples all reading greater than 2420 [colony forming units per 100 milliliters of water]. The sampling will continue through the week of Oct. 12, and the data will then be analyzed in order to look for potential problem areas as well as trends or correlations between weather and the levels of E. coli in Lake Newport,” said Ryan Tekac, environmental health director for the health board, in a statement.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency considers a count of 576 or above to represent a potential public-health risk. Samples collected from all nine sites this week were above that threshold.
Conditions this week differed from previous weeks, with rainy and overcast weather, which health-board officials previously have said can impact E. coli levels.
The testing program was initiated to establish a baseline E. coli-level for the lake after previous testing – conducted in response to a massive fish kill in the lake – found elevated levels of the bacteria. Mill Creek MetroParks waterways have been closed for recreational use since July.
Health-board technicians began the program by testing samples collected from three sites each week: the Lake Newport boathouse on West Newport Drive, a footbridge over Mill Creek just north of Shields Road and the Lake Newport boat launch.
The program later expanded to include six additional sites in an attempt to determine why counts consistently were higher at one testing location. The additional sites are: a bridge at Smythe Island in the Newport Wetlands, the wetlands shore at Smythe Island, a walking trail off U.S. Route 224 near the golf course, Old Calla Road near the Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, the Cranberry Run inlet and the Anderson Run inlet.