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Saturday, June 10, 2006
John C. Kuehner
Plain Dealer Reporter
Waders, bathers and swimmers will know by 9:30 each morning if the water at Huntington Beach in Bay Village is good or poor, a major public health breakthrough.
Providing beach-goers with same-day water- quality data is a goal that health officials have pursued for more than a decade.
Huntington is the first beach on Lake Erie to make same-day data available to the public.
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Until now, health officials have relied on day-old water-sample data to determine water quality. But that meant the public would learn after the fact that the water was bad the previous day.
That's why health officials sought a more rapid and reliable method that would deliver same-day data.
Storm runoff washes over land and carries with it everything from animal waste and parking-lot waste to lawn fertilizer. Storm water can also overflow sewers, carrying away untreated human waste. Malfunctioning septic systems also add untreated sewage.
Eventually, those pollutants end up in the lake.
Children, the elderly and people with immune- system problems are most at risk of becoming ill, she said.
Lake water can contain high levels of a fecal bacteria, which indicate the presence of germs that can cause flulike symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, fevers and abdominal cramps.
This season, the Cuyahoga County Health Board and U.S. Geological Survey will launch real-time information so visitors at Huntington can learn the expected water quality for that day.