Bay View praises sewer project, wonders why water still dirty

BAY VIEW — Bay View's mayor, Larry Gwinner, says a $7.9 million project — which replaced septic tank systems in the village with a new sewer system a few years ago — was a big success. "They did a good job, and it's the best thing that ever happened to us," the mayor says. But the mayor and town resident Jeff Traczek also would like to solve a mystery: Why haven't water quality tests for a Bay View beach shown more improvement since the system was completed in 2016? "We put it in, and nothing's changed," the mayor said. Traczek, an engineer by training, has carefully tracked water quality data for the Bay View West location and seen little progress. "(About) $7 million later, we're here now," he said. The Erie County Health Department's chief environmental public health officer, Craig Ward, said the department has noticed water quality readings for Bay View's beaches often remain bad. Officials haven't yet figured out why, Ward said. Each year, the health department tracks water quality along the Erie County shoreline during the summer, taking water samples from 25 different locations, ranging from Whites Landing on the west end to Showse Park in Vermilion on the east end. Water samples from the locations are tested in the health department's water quality laboratory for E. coli bacteria contamination. The results for the department's beach program are posted on the department's website and also included in the state's BeachGuard website. Traczek, 57, an engineer who works for a company that makes heating and air conditioning components, has lived in Bay View for 26 years. For about three years, he has been tracking water sampling results for the Bay View West sampling location, which Ward says is located across the street from Rayz by the Bay, 1101 Bayview Drive, just west of a stormwater system outfall. Using the BeachGuard website, Traczek also has pulled sampling results dating back to 2008. Traczek, who got interested in the issue after being asked to serve on a committee working on the sewer project, points out they show little change in water quality after the project was completed. He shared his date with the Register. The Register shared his work with Craig, who responded by sending the Register a table tracking Bay View West beach results for the years 2016 through this year. Ward notes that, according to his beach results, 2016 was a particularly bad year, and results every year since then have been better and have remained fairly steady. But the chart also shows after a good year in 2019, 2020 was worse, and 2021 was worse yet. "We also have noticed high trends of E. coli in our Bay View sampling locations. We do not have a 'smoking gun' of a known E. coli contamination source in the community," Ward said. Gwinner and Traczek both emphasize they believe the Bay View West sewer project, which installed sewer lines in the village and tied them to Sandusky's sewer system, was both needed and successfully carried out. "I believe 100% that it made a difference," said Gwinner, who said anything from the town's former septic tank systems would have gone into storm sewers and been carried into Sandusky Bay. The sewer system goes into Sandusky's sewage treatment system and nothing from the sewers reaches the bay untreated. "The system we had out there was not working, and it was definitely polluting the bay," Gwinner said. "I feel real confident that it made a heck of a change." "I am happy with the installation of the new sewer system. It was definitely needed," Traczek said. Both men said they thought water quality along Bay View's shore would show more improvement. That's how the system was sold, Gwinner said. Ward said 2021's water sampling results at Bay View West were sampled 78 times in 2021 with results for the cleanliness of the water being split into four categories: "advisory," "poor," "fair" and "good." The worst category, advisory, essentially means "high bacteria count, stay out of the water" and it dominated the results. There were 39 advisory results this year, half of the results. There were also 20 good results, 12 fair results and nine poor results. Suspected reasons for the numerous bad results are well known, Traczek said. Crystal Rock and Whites Landing, upriver from Bay View, are still on septic tank systems. It's also assumed that after heavy rains, sewage water might wash in from cities farther upstream on the Sandusky River. "We have done some upstream investigations in the storm sewer system in Bay View looking for sources of sewage, but we have not found any evidence of sewage in the stormwater since the installation of the sanitary sewers," Ward said. Ward said weather appears to have the biggest influence on the water samples. Heavy rains that overwhelm treatment systems wash dirty water into the lake, and winds can stir up the lake. "My best guess for having a better year in 2019 would be the weather," he said. Ward said the health department will continue to look into why bacteria readings remain high for water along the Bay View shore. "We have been closely monitoring the situation and will continue to do so next year as well," he said