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Poland council mulls Yellow Creek water testing
POLAND
Village council members are weighing options to address concerns regarding water quality in Yellow Creek.
The issue recently landed in front of local government officials after resident Barbara Stacy said her grandson suffered a serious bacterial infection after falling down a steep slope near village hall and landing in the creek.
Stacy and her family believe the bacteria that caused the infection came from the water, and Stacy has since lobbied township, village and school board officials to warn people about potential risks of going into the stream.
Village council has considered posting signs, but health and water-quality experts say that step would be premature.
“My only concern is, if you do that with Yellow Creek, you might as well come out and say every surface water is contaminated,” said Stephanie Dyer, environmental program manager at Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, which is the water-quality management agency for Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Dyer attended a council meeting Tuesday to lend her expertise.
“I wouldn’t recommend you post signs yet, without the [supporting] science,” said Ryan Tekac, environmental health director for the Mahoning County District Board of Health, who along with health commissioner Patricia Sweeney also attended the meeting.
Dyer, Tekac and Sweeney seemed to agree a testing program needs to be conducted before any entity can take further action on the issue.
The village could pay the health board to conduct a testing program at points of Yellow Creek or collaborate with Youngstown State University on a testing program.
What it comes down to, experts said, is understanding the issue in terms of the entire Yellow Creek Watershed, which drains an area of roughly 40 square miles between Unity Township in Columbiana County to the Mahoning River in the city of Struthers.
Water-quality issues throughout the watershed are impacted by a number of factors, such as agricultural run-off, failing septic systems, leaky sewer pipes and any other ways in which humans and animals interact with the water.
For her part, Stacy says she wants people to be aware of what she believes is a risk.
“It happened to him. Who else is it going to happen to,” she said of her grandson. “I just don’t want another child to go through what Cody went through.”
Council did not take action, but agreed to continue consulting with Eastgate and the health board about possible options.