By Spencer Hunt
Lake
Erie's public beaches failed so many bacterial tests last year that Ohio ranks second-worst
among all states, according to a new report.
Health officials found unhealthful levels of bacteria in 18 percent of the
water samples taken from Lake Erie's 7.3 miles
of public beaches last year, according to a report released yesterday by the Natural
Resources Defense Council.
Only Illinois
was worse, with 23 percent of water samples at its beaches exceeding safe
levels.
That puts both ahead of states that monitor considerably more coastline and
beaches, including California, Hawaii and Florida.
The national average was 7 percent.
Environmental advocates said heavy rains that send sewage overflows and
polluted stormwater runoff into Lake Erie were
the primary sources of bacteria, which can sicken swimmers.
"That's unacceptable," said Amy Gomberg, of Environment Ohio,
which took part in the report's release. "There's no reason in the world
why untreated sewage should be allowed to go into our recreational
waterways."
City and county health departments conduct the tests and report them to the
Ohio Department of Health. State and local health officials issued health
advisories for 36 Lake Erie beaches that
covered 657 days last summer.
Signs posted at public beaches advise young children, older people and
people in poor health not to swim. State, county and city health agencies
typically do not close beaches.
Other states and municipalities close beaches.
The advisories are a chronic headache for officials who have a piece of Lake Erie's tourism industry, which brings in $8.7
billion annually.
About 2 million people, including thousands from central Ohio,
visited nine state-operated beaches on Lake Erie
last year, said Scott Fletcher, parks operations manager for the Ohio
Department of Natural Resources.
In all, there are 53 public beaches on the lake, according to the report.
Fletcher said there is little beach managers can do other than warn people.
He said the agency is testing a forecasting system at its Edgewater
State Park just west of Cleveland that could give
visitors more timely warnings.
"It takes 24 hours to 48 hours to get (water sample) test
results," Fletcher said.
"When we post warnings, we're actually posting what conditions were
like the day before."
shunt@dispatch.com
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