Region’s beach closures highlight summer water quality, E. coli risk
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performs weekly tests at its swimming areas.
By PATRICK VARINE
TribLive
Chloe Kruse always checks Facebook or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ website before she packs a beach bag for Crooked Creek Lake in Burrell Township, Armstrong County.
“It was actually closed last week for a few days because of the water testing,” said Kruse, 37, of Ford City, as she caught some rays on a recent afternoon. “They’re really good about letting people know when the beach is closed.”
Kruse is right to check ahead. The regional swimming season is underway in Southwestern Pennsylvania, and water quality issues have already triggered beach closures and widespread failed water tests at popular recreation spots.
In addition to the brief shutdown at Crooked Creek Lake, Youghiogheny River Lake — which straddles the Fayette and Somerset county border near Confluence — closed to the public for several days in late May after testing showed E. coli levels beyond acceptable safety thresholds.
Rainwater washes bacteria into local lakes
The recent closures mirror broader regional data collected during the final week of May, when more than a dozen sampling sites along the Youghiogheny River failed water quality tests conducted by the nonprofit Mountain Watershed Association.
Though those same sites passed subsequent testing by June 3 — including Indian Creek in Saltlick, Cucumber Run Falls in Stewart, the borough of Ohiopyle, Smithton Beach in Rostraver, Yough River Park in Connellsville and the Perryopolis boat launch — officials warn water safety remains tied directly to the weather.
“With the larger amounts of rainfall that the Yough River Basin has gotten, that probably accounts for the elevated levels we saw there,” said Carl Nim, a biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District’s Water Resources Section. “The Allegheny and Beaver basins didn’t get as much rain as the Yough this year.”
Nim said E. coli issues center around rainfall. When it storms, animal feces wash into bodies of water along with runoff from freshly fertilized farm fields and sewage overflows.
Government agencies at the state and federal levels regularly test public swimming areas under their management for the bacteria. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers performs weekly tests at its swimming areas so results can be posted prior to high-volume weekend days.
The main offender in these closures is E. coli, which can cause gastrointestinal problems, nausea, cramping, dehydration, urinary tract infections, or, in rare cases, kidney damage.
“E. coli is found in the digestive tract of warm-blooded animals,” said Chantelle Hutchens, a water specialist with the Mountain Watershed Association. “It’s what we call an ‘indicator’ species.”
In the same way certain species of amphibians indicate a high-quality water source, the presence of E. coli means other bacteria are likely lurking as well, Hutchens said. The association uses an Environmental Protection Agency-approved testing process to estimate the “most probable number,” or MPN, of bacteria present in samples. The threshold for failure is 235 MPN.
Heat, stagnant water trigger algae threats
While spring rain brings bacteria, the stagnant heat of late summer introduces a different water quality threat: harmful algal blooms.
At Keystone State Park in Derry Township, manager Kris Baker said the lake usually boasts very good water quality and low E. coli counts, but weather patterns can quickly change the environment.
“Two years ago, we had an outbreak of algal blooms,” Baker said. “We had almost three months of high temperatures and no rain — that heats the lake up and creates ideal conditions for algae.”
Algae are a diverse group of plantlike organisms that thrive in water.
While they produce much of the planet’s oxygen, they can become dangerous when they grow too rapidly.
Spring green-algae blooms are generally more damaging to aquatic life than to humans, but late-summer conditions can produce blue-green algae, which contains harmful cyanobacteria. Long, hot, sunny days combine with high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus to create the warm-water conditions where cyanobacteria thrive.
Because of this risk, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts regular algae sampling — particularly at lakes connected to a reservoir.
“We try to get to each of our reservoirs at least once a year, and we also have an intensive sampling schedule where we go back to the same reservoir every month from April through November,” Nim said.
Water quality rarely crosses visitors’ minds
Despite the potential risks from bacteria and seasonal algae, people who enjoy the outdoors say water safety is not always top of mind.
Heather Romanelli of Plum said she doesn’t usually think about water quality when she puts her kayak in the water at Keystone State Park, which has not had any recent testing issues.
“I suppose if it smelled bad, or if we saw dead fish, we might be concerned,” said Romanelli, who was testing out new kayaks with her husband, John, on a sunny recent afternoon. “We do always wash our kayaks off so we don’t transfer any bacteria.”
Back at Crooked Creek Lake, Angie Erdley, 27, of Ford City agreed water quality rarely crosses her mind while sunbathing.
“Even as a kid, my grandparents would just toss us in to swim,” Erdley said.
Online maps track contamination trends
To help keep the public informed, Mountain Watershed Association officials submit their testing results to the Swim Guide, an online database tracking water quality at more than 70 public swimming areas across Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Hutchens said the “Swimmable Waters” program serves as both a public education project and a way to build a historical database. If consistent pollution spikes occur during low-flow periods when rain is not a factor, the association can flag potential direct pollution events for local townships and the state Department of Environmental Protection.
The interactive map can be viewed online at theswimguide.org/find.
