Water advisories listed for local beaches

SANDUSKY — The Ohio Department of Health recently issued water advisories, suggesting that people avoid going for a swim at 13 state locations. This would include five spots in Erie and Ottawa counties. The local areas where swimmers are being asked to avoid because of contamination by bacteria: • In Erie County: Whites Landing, Bay View East, Bay View West and Darby Creek • In Ottawa County: Catawba Island State Park in Ottawa County. These locations, along with others in Ohio also under an advisory, are marked by flags on the Ohio Beach Guard map, found at the state health department's website, odh.ohio.gov. Search for "Ohio Beach Guard" on a search engine, like Google, to find the Ohio Beach Guard map before venturing to your favorite beach. All of the five locations in Erie and Ottawa counties listed as under advisory status are marked on the map with a yellow flag. Those yellow flags are displayed "when the level of bad bacteria in the water has reached unsafe levels and could make you sick," the state health department website states. "Children, the elderly and those in ill health or weakened immune systems are advised not to swim." Local swimmers seeking a more detailed look at beach conditions are invited to look at the beach testing results posted at the Erie County Health Department's website. Here are some quick steps to look up this information: • Go to the Erie County Health Department website, eriecohealthohio.com. • Click "programs" at the top of the page. • Then choose "pools, beaches and campgrounds." • That will take you to the "beaches" page, which can be bookmarked. The health department's testing of local lake spots runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day with testing carried out in 25 locations. The results of the water sampling and lab testing for bacteria are grouped into four possible ratings: good, fair, poor and advisory. The latest results posted on Friday gave the worst rating, advisory, to Lions Park, Cedar Point Chaussee, Lakefront Park, Beulah Beach and Darby Creek. "Poor" ratings were given to Whites Landing, Bay View West, Bay View East, Sawmill Creek, Oberlin Beach and Lagoons Beach. On the other hand, ratings of "good" were given to Pickerel Creek, Crystal Rock, Battery Park, Pipe Creek Wildlife Area, Nickel Plate Beach, Old Woman Creek Beach, Cranberry Creek, Heidelberg Beach, Orchard Beach and Linwood Beach. Ratings of "fair" were given to Sherod Park, Nokomis Park and Showse Park.