Article published June 08, 2009
Bacteria lurk as swimmers hit Lake Erie beaches
Olivia Kookoothe, 16, and her brother, Isaac, 12, enjoy some quiet time together at a deserted Lake Erie beach on a sunny, but cool day recently at Maumee Bay State Park in Oregon.
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THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY
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By TOM HENRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
With schools on summer vacation, families soon will flock to Lake Erie beaches to swim while trying to avoid gut-wrenching encounters with bacteria.
The standard warnings apply:
•Don't swim during or immediately after major storms, especially thunderstorms and high winds. Turbulence suspends silt in the water, bringing out embedded bacteria.
•Take extra precautions when temperatures climb into the 80s and 90s, while recognizing you still could be exposed to abnormal bacteria levels at any time. Bacteria thrive in heat. But certain forms also have shown themselves to be more resilient to cold than previously thought.
A water sample taken from Lake Erie off Maumee Bay State Park will be tested to determine how much bacteria it contains.
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THE BLADE/DAVE ZAPOTOSKY
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Beyond that, advice isn't always clear.
Officials are confounded by what causes Great Lakes bacterial outbreaks, why some beaches get them worse than others, and what it means to public health, tourism, and recreation.Scientists have made strides in tracking the myriad environmental triggers - goose droppings, cow manure, and sewage overflows of human waste - with almost DNA-like precision.
Yet questions linger over whether the concern for America's beaches is exaggerated or underplayed, especially as experts learn more about how well humans fend off various bacterial strains.
In southeast Michigan, Sterling State Park and Luna Pier City Beach in Monroe County have gone more than three years without posting a single swimming advisory posted, according to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality online records.
But the Luna Pier beach had considerable problems in 2005.
This year, two beaches in Macomb County, St. Clair Shores Memorial Park Beach and St. Clair Shores Blossom Heath Beach, have been closed since late May because of excessive bacteria, despite cool temperatures.
No problems have been identified this year along the northwest Ohio shoreline. The Ohio Department of Health began sampling last month.
But the two Maumee Bay State Park beaches in eastern Lucas County - one along Lake Erie and the other an inland pond - almost always have more bacteria than the Lake Erie beach at East Harbor State Park in Ottawa County.
Michigan has hundreds of public beaches along the Great Lakes and inland water bodies, but hasn't always monitored them for bacteria.
Prior to 2000, various health departments relied on local funding for testing.
With many municipalities cash-strapped or devoting money to other projects, fewer than 50 Michigan beaches were monitored in 2000, according to state DEQ records.
Then millions of dollars became available in grants under the state's Clean Michigan Initiative-Clean Water Fund, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
By 2004, the sampling was expanded nearly tenfold, to 494 beaches. Last year, 467 were sampled, of which 208 were along the Great Lakes.
Although fewer than 3 percent of all samples ran afoul of water-quality standards, more than 15 percent of Michigan beaches had bacteria problems for varying lengths of time in 2008, records show.
Bob McCann, Michigan DEQ spokesman, said the frequency of beach advisories and closures has declined in southeastern Michigan in large part because sewage projects have reduced overflows.
But that's only part of the solution.
Animal droppings on beaches and the runoff of bacteria-laden sediment into ditches and streams contribute to the problem. Plus, there a number of unknown causes.
"We know now that E. coli comes from a multitude of different sources. The question now is what is our best and most effective way of minimizing that," Mr. McCann said.
Health and environmental professionals have attributed most of the problem at Maumee Bay State Park's inland beach to bird droppings.
The park has been shooing away birds, using pop guns and broadcasting high-pitch sounds that humans don't hear.
The bacteria along the park's Lake Erie shoreline are viewed as a complex problem.
Once attributed to faulty septic tanks, the research has been broadened to include other types of runoff.
Although the park had 12 swimming advisories for the park's Lake Erie beach and seven for the inland beach in 2008, the frequency is down from what it was years ago.
State health department sampling results show no problems at Maumee Bay so far this year.
Oregon and Jerusalem Township have installed more sanitary sewer systems.
That's probably helped improve the park's stream quality to some degree, said Al Ruffell, Toledo-Lucas County environmental health director.
He said the area surrounding the Maumee Bay park is better than it was five years ago, but there's still work to be done.
"It depends so much on weather conditions," he said. "We're still going to have days out there in which the beaches are posted."
The latest strategy has involved plans for a $3 million man-made wetland that would help filter contaminants before they get into Wolf Creek, a waterway that flows from Northwood to Oregon.
Wolf Creek empties into Berger Ditch, which bisects the park.
Research shows sediment high in bacteria has been getting into the creek after being washed off by rain.
The Wolf Creek wetlands project is in its early design and planning stages.
But Oregon last week was notified that its application for a $62,391 grant to help purchase 5.5 acres of easement around Wolf Creek was approved by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The total cost of that project is $125,399, the Ohio DNR said.
Now the challenge, according to Mr. Ruffell, will be trying to get money to build the wetlands while the economy is in a severe recession.
Contact Tom Henry at:
thenry@theblade.com
or 419-724-6079.
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