Beach Monitoring Program

The 2006 beach sampling program ran from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This year samples were collected twice weekly at 23 locations along the shores of Lake Erie, Sandusky Bay and Kelley's Island. Our Sanitarians collected and analyzed these samples for the presence of E. Coli bacteria, which is a good indicator of bathing water contamination and may be interpreted as increased risk of disease transmission to swimmers. The results were published in local newspapers, announced on local radio stations and also posted on our department website.

The main goal of all our efforts in the beach program is to provide Erie County residents and tourists with knowledge about beach water quality and also the potential risks associated with swimming when water quality is poor. Our employees strive to ensure that unsafe swimming conditions are communicated to Erie County residents as quickly as possible and in doing so reduce the risk of unwanted illness in the swimming public.

In 2007 the Environmental Health Division is seeking additional funding to include upstream pollution point and non-point source identification. This data collection process will move Erie County one step closer to ensuring consistently safe water quality throughout the beach swimming season.

Beach Sample Results for 07/14/08

Beach Sample Results for 07/10/08

Beach Sample Results for 07/09/08

Beach Sample Results for 07/07/08