Thursday, September 24, 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
Results from E. coli testing at Lake Newport and other Mill Creek MetroParks waterways released Wednesday by the Mahoning County District Board of Health showed little change from previous rounds of testing.
Samples from nine locations throughout the park were collected Monday to capture data within 24 to 48 hours after a rain event. The health board is in week nine of a 12-week testing program initiated after a massive fish kill in Lake Newport; subsequent testing found elevated levels of E. coli in the water, and Mill Creek Park waterways have been closed for recreational use since July 10.
E. coli counts from samples collected Monday, for the most part, were below 576, which is the threshold the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency considers to represent a potential public-health risk.
Samples were collected at the original sites included in the program: the Lake Newport boathouse on West Newport Drive, the Lake Newport boat launch and a footbridge over Mill Creek just north of Shields Road. The program expanded last week to include six additional sites in an attempt to determine why samples drawn from one location β the footbridge β consistently showed higher E. coli counts.
βThe additional samples will continue to be collected until the end of October 2015 in an effort to establish a baseline for Lake Newport and in an attempt to isolate an area that may have contributed to the elevated E. coli levels in previous testing,β said Ryan Tekac, director of environmental health for the health board, in a statement Wednesday.
Two samples each collected near the boathouse, boat launch and footbridge showed counts, respectively, of: 484 and 526 colony forming units per 100 milliliters of water; 324 and 593; 304 and 406.
Samples collected near 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 Anderson Run inlet had the following counts, respectively: 288 and 445; 230 and 195; 304 and 200; 690 and 940; 291 and 430; 740 and 1,230.
The board will release results today from samples collected Wednesday for regular weekly testing.