Check ratings before hitting beach

SANDUSKY — Planning to go to the beach during the holiday weekend? The Erie County Health Department is again performing water quality tests at Erie County beaches and can help you find the best place to take your family. About two dozen locations are regularly tested for the presence of E. coli bacteria during the summer, and local residents can access the results at the health department's website, eriecohealthohio.com. To find the results, look under "programs" at the top of the page, then choose "pools, beaches & campgrounds." Beaches are rated for water cleanliness as "good," "fair," "poor" or "advisory." Results for Tuesday, for example, showed a good rating for Nickel Plate Beach in Huron but advisory ratings for Beulah Beach and Main Street Beach in Vermilion. Ottawa County also carries out beach testing, with results posted at Ohio's Beach Guard site, publicapps.odh.ohio.gov/beachguardpublic. Anne Wells-Ganger, water laboratory supervisor for the Erie County Health Department, explained that the health department carries out beach testing every summer. Health department employees take water samples at 25 recreational water locations from Memorial Day to Labor Day. "The test we run to test for E. coli in the water is an 18- to 22-hour test, so results for the samples we are collecting today will not be finalized until tomorrow morning. Results are emailed out to community stakeholders, posted on our website and posted on Ohio BeachGuard every morning," she said. A recent water sampling result showed why families need to keep an eye on the beach testing results. The results released for the June 27 water samplings showed ratings of "advisory," the worst rating, for 17 of the 25 testing locations, with another five locations rated as poor. "This was a day of very high sample results, however it should be noted that we experienced severe thunderstorms with strong winds and heavy rainfall events the day prior. After a heavy rainfall event or strong shift in the winds, it is not unusual to see elevated results due to increased runoff and turbulence in the water," Wells-Ganger explained. But even under more normal weather conditions, advisory ratings warning people to stay away are not unusual. The July 1 results, for example, showed an advisory rating for nine locations: Bay View East, Beulah Beach, Orchard Beach, Sherod Park, Main Street Beach, Lagoons Beach, Linwood Beach, Nokomis Park and Showse Park. The health department doesn't close beaches, so it's up to the public to pay attention to the beach testing results, Wells-Ganger said.