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Maumee Bay advisories back up

August 5, 2000

Maumee Bay State Park visitors are being advised again not to swim in Lake Erie because of excessive bacteria.

Water near the park's lakefront beach has an average E. coli level of 145 parts per 100 milliliters, higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's threshold of 126 parts per 100 milliliters.

The numbers yesterday prompted the Ohio Department of Health to order the reposting of swimming advisory signs. It is the first time the warnings have been posted since being taken down July 10, after a five-week period of excessive bacteria.

The swimming advisory is for the lake only. The average bacteria level for the park's inland pond - 45 colonies of E. coli per 100 milliliters - remains at a safe level, Mike Oricko, Toledo-Lucas County environmental health director, said.

Bacteria at Maumee Bay State Park comes from a variety of sources, from bird droppings to run off from faulty septic tanks. The most volatile factor appears to be rain and wind that stir up bacteria-laden sediment, officials have said.

Mr. Oricko attributed the latest surge in bacteria at the park to two recent storms. "Just looking at the dates and the numbers, it's kind of obvious what is going on," Mr. Oricko said.

Jeff Steers, assistant director of the Ohio EPA's northwest district office in Bowling Green, said it is impossible to quantify the degree to which Maumee Bay State Park's latest bacteria level was caused by the amount of raw human waste Toledo allowed into area waterways after storms last Saturday and Wednesday.

But he agreed a correlation appears to exist.

On Saturday, flooding caused the city's sewage treatment plant to be overwhelmed by a stream of waste that was five times greater than the average daily flow of 70 million gallons.

By late afternoon, the city stopped treating about a third of the waste water, resorting to just skimming solids and discharging millions of gallons of untreated liquid.

"It certainly had the potential to contribute to overall [bacteria] counts," Mr. Steers said.

Ohio EPA officials allowed the waste to be discharged because of the circumstances. "I think everybody understands in an emergency, there's only so many places the water can go," Mr. Steers said.

E. coli is the type of bacteria viewed as the greatest indicator of human health risk. At excessive levels, it can make people experience flu-like symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea - possibly even kill them.

The levels fluctuate at the park so quickly that it's possible the lakefront warning signs were posted as E. coli was dissipating to a safe level again - although nobody will know that until next week, because of infrequent testing.

A state health department intern draws water samples from several sites in northwest Ohio, including the two at Maumee Bay State Park, on Mondays and Wednesdays. It takes officials one or two days to receive results from the laboratory at Toledo's water treatment plant.

Health officials base their decision to post advisories on a geometric mean, an average of several readings spread out over weeks.

A sample drawn from the lake Monday had an E. coli count of 435 colonies per 100 milliliters. It was taken two days after parts of Toledo were flooded by as much as six inches of rain.

On Wednesday, the same day that a second wave of thunderstorms dumped as much as six inches of rain on the region, the bacteria level at the same sampling site was 228 colonies per 100 milliliters.

The two readings were enough to push the geometric mean up to 145 colonies per 100 milliliters. For almost a month, the E. coli count in the lake had been below 90 colonies per 100 milliliters.

Such drop-offs are not uncommon a day or two after storms pass.

For example, an E. coli level of 2,420 colonies per 100 milliliters was recorded June 12. The sample was drawn from the lake three hours after a major storm. Two days later, on June 14, the same sampling site had an E. coli level of 55 parts per 100 milliliters.

Other area beaches do not have as much of a problem with bacteria, even immediately after inclement weather.

Monday's sample from Crane Creek State Park in Ottawa County had an E. coli level of only 58 parts per 100 milliliters. Although that's almost twice the current geometric mean of 31 parts per 100 milliliters at that park, it's still well within the safety standard.

The bacteria level consistently has been lower for years at Crane Creek State Park. Even so, Mr. Oricko said he was surprised Crane Creek's numbers weren't higher, given the amount of rain and flooding in Ottawa County.

Sterling State Park in Michigan's Monroe County, which had been closed for nearly two weeks earlier this summer because of an E. coli outbreak, does not have bacteria levels high enough to warrant any swimming advisories, a park official said yesterday.

Toledo's lack of treatment capacity is not new.

In 1991, the U.S. EPA sued Toledo because of its practice of dumping raw or only partially treated sewage into the Maumee River and other streams after storms. After more than $1 million was spent on the litigation, the city has reached a tentative settlement with the federal government that will cost the city more than $400 million in equipment upgrades and more than double Toledo sewer bills.

"It's a longstanding problem and can't be fixed overnight," Mr. Steers said. "Obviously, it's a significant source [of bacteria]."