The beach bathing recreation season officially begins on Memorial Day. The Lake County General Health District (LCGHD) will start reporting beach water quality at the two Lake County public beaches: Mentor Headlands State Park Beach and Lake Metroparks Fairport Harbor Beach. Every morning a member of staff will collect data and record observations. The data is then entered into a software program called Virtual Beach that uses a mathematical system developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) to predict the levels of E. coli at the beach each day.
The model determines the probability of whether the current single day standard of 235 E. coli per 100 milliliters of sample will be exceeded that day. The models developed for each beach are site-specific and will be used daily to determine the probability of whether the water quality will exceed the standard. This daily prediction will be reported using the Ohio Department of Health BEACHGUARD and United States Geographical Services NOWCAST programs each morning to the beach operators. The Health District will still collect water quality samples three times per week for E. coli analysis to validate each predictive model for accuracy and reliability. If the prediction indicates that the water quality is expected to exceed the standard, the beach operators will be notified and advised to post the advisory sign.
The week before Memorial Day (May 22-28, 2023) is National Healthy and Safe Swimming Week. The goal of this week is to maximize the health benefits of swimming by promoting healthy and safe swimming. Just 2.5 hours of water-based physical activity per week results in health benefits across a lifetime. We each play a role in preventing illnesses caused by germs in the water we share and swim in, and injuries such as drowning, or others caused by improper handling of pool chemicals. For children ages 1–14, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury death after motor vehicle crashes. While children are at highest risk, anyone can drown. Pool chemical injuries lead to about 4,500 U.S. emergency department visits each year, and over one-third of these preventable injuries are in children or teens.
As always, the Health District recommends that the public look for the posted water quality signage at the beach when deciding whether to go into the water. Additionally, it is recommended that bathers avoid the water for 24-48 hours after heavy rain of more than one half inch in 24 hours, since the likelihood of poor water quality generally increases. Because of this, always shower as soon as possible after swimming in the lake.
The Lake County General Health District encourages beach goers to visit https://www.lcghd.org/beaches/ for more information on beach water quality and to visit the ODH BEACHGUARD http://publicapps.odh.ohio.gov/beachguardpublic/ and Nowcast https://pa.water.usgs.gov/apps/nowcast/ sites. For more information about LCGHD’s beach monitoring and public swimming pools programs, contact the Environmental Health division at (440) 350-2543. For the beach program contact Chris Loxterman at cloxterman@lcghd.org and for the swimming pools program contact Cady Stromp at cstromp@lcghd.org.