 The Toledo Blade
June 28, 2000 The cause of the occasional no-swimming advisories is E. coli, a form of fecal bacteria. Over Memorial Day weekend two beaches in Michigan's Monroe County just north of Toledo were closed because of E. coli outbreaks. More ominously, six people died in Walkerton, Ont., recently, and up to 1,000 were sickened because the drinking water there became contaminated by E. coli bacteria after heavy storms. It's no wonder people flee the beaches and find other kinds of summertime amusement when E. coli warnings go up. And even though it's only an occasional problem along the west end of Lake Erie, the threat is that it could become a more persistent one. Mike Oricko, Toledo-Lucas County environmental health director, wants communities to repair faulty septic tanks and sewer lines and clean up ditches that dump untreated water into Lake Erie near Maumee Bay State Park. But there's a lot more to getting clean, swimmable water than stemming the flow of polluted water flowing into Lake Erie east of Toledo. Dealing with Lake Erie is to deal with the other Great Lakes, too, and that was the point of an intergovernmental conference called Great Lakes 2000 hosted recently in Toledo by U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur's office. The conference brought together officials from seven Great Lakes states, federal government officials, farmers, and conservationists. Topics included the effect of land use on the lakes and the effect of lakes on the surrounding land. Yes, ways need to be found to protect local beaches from E. coli. But there are equally pressing problems concerning runoff from farmland and cities, as well as toxic wastes. And perhaps the greatest single issue is dropping water levels. All of these issues, in terms of the damage they can do, carry a price tag. If Ohioans truly treasure the lake, they must be willing to pay the price to safeguard this greatest of our natural resources. As we are seeing, the cost of foul water is even greater. Back to Ohio state page
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