Swimming not allowed at Old Woman Creek

HURON — The water at the Old Woman Creek, a national estuarine research reserve and state nature preserve, may be clean along the lakeshore — but swimming there is not allowed. Officials at the preserve would like to make that clear after a recent Register article, "A funny thing happened to Sandusky Bay's water: It got better" mentioned results for beach testing in Erie and Ottawa counties. Many areas along the shore are regularly tested from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and the locations are commonly referred to by officials as "beaches," even if some places don't have beaches where swimming is allowed. A sentence in the story said, "Several local beaches in the Sandusky-Port Clinton area have been consistently clean and safe for swimming: Battery Park, Catawba Island, Old Woman Creek beach, Kiwanis beach in Sandusky, Cedar Point (at a sampling location on the Chaussee, not in the park itself), East Harbor State Park, Lakeside and South Bass Island State Park." After the article appeared in print, Janet Hannaway, office manager at the Old Woman Creek reserve, wrote to the Register to point out that swimming isn't permitted at the Old Woman Creek beach. Officials don't want people showing up at Old Woman Creek this summer thinking they are allowed to swim there, Hathaway said.