Erie water quality declines, but better than most

By SEAN CUNEO
sean.cuneo@timesnews.com

Published: July 30. 2009 1:15AM

The water quality of Lake Erie off Pennsylvania declined in 2008, according to a study released Wednesday by the Natural Resources Defense Council.


But compared to the rest of the Great Lakes, the water in the Erie area is better than most.

Presque Isle State Park staff issued 39 swimming advisories in 2008. They issued just six swimming advisories in 2007.

In addition, 9 percent of the water samples taken from Pennsylvania beaches in 2008 exceeded the nation's health standards.

Elsewhere on the Great Lakes, that percentage was higher at 12 percent.

Though better, Erika Staaf, a clean water advocate for PennEnvironment, an environmental advocacy group, insisted Wednesday that we could do better.

"When families head to the beach this summer, they shouldn't have to worry about swimming in polluted water," Staaf said. "There needs to be a strategy to stop pollution at its source."

The source, according to the report, is storm water runoff, which is responsible for 100 percent of the water contamination that causes the pollution.

When it rains, E. coli and other bacteria wash into Lake Erie, she said. The water off certain beaches, especially Beach 1 and Barracks Beach, becomes risky for swimmers.

"The more the city and state can do to mitigate runoff, the better our beach water quality will be," Staaf said.

Presque Isle State Park operations manager Harry Leslie said the report indicates water pollution might be worse than it actually is because restrictions and advisories are directly related to weather events.

"In rainy years, there are more restrictions and advisories. We've had some dry years when there haven't been any," he said.


Distributed without profit to ESA Great Lakes District members for environment education.

Across the Great Lakes we are having Spring like rainfalls. This is causing massive amounts of land based pollution to wash into the lake. The recent bad surfing conditions may in fact be a blessing in disguise as beach closings escalate across the region. The public health is being endangered by polluted run off again.

I recommend that no one with immune system problems or young children take a swim in the lake after another rainfall until the lakes get a chance to have a long time to cleanse itself out through filtering by beach sands and dunes and the movement of the water to the ocean.

E-coli and hepatitis are dangerous pathogens to human life. Heavy expose to polluted water can do traumatic damage to the human body. Life is short to smart and live it to the fullest. We are all mortal. Life whips past like a low storm passing from east to west. Get your share of waves but avoid polluted water if you can.


Incidentally one of the most polluted beaches on the East Coast after a rainfall is Jones Beach. There are others that are nearly as bad in New Jersey and even in Florida. The West and the Gulf Coasts are also burdened with this systemic pollution problem.

Respect the beach.

Join the Surfrider Foundation and Great Lakes United if you can to fight for cleaner waters where we surf.

If you own a home and can afford rain barreling your gutters on your home you will do your part in reducing rain water from washing down the storm sewers. It might seam like a proverbial drop in the old metaphoric bucket bt in your own small way you are not adding to the accumulation of dirty water being deposited into our lake.


Put your money where you mouth is if you can afford it. We are the captains of our own ships. To help clean up the water where we surf shows higher character and intelligence. End of this message brought to you by a surfer who wants my family and friends to have cleaner water to drink and ride waves.


Rain barrel information:

http://bnriverkeeper.org/programs/rain-barrels/