First, the good news: The water quality at
Presque Isle State Park improved in 2007, according to a study released
Tuesday by the Natural Resource Defense Council. The park staff issued
swimming advisories six times in 2007 -- down 85 percent from 2006.
And
now, the bad: Fifteen percent of the beach-water samples taken from the
Great Lakes exceeded the nation's health standards. That was twice the
national average.
"The glass is half-full," said David Masur,
the director of PennEnvironment, a Philadelphia-based environmental
advocacy group. "But it's also half-empty. It all depends on how you
want to look at it."
Water pollution in Pennsylvania is
primarily a storm-water problem. That's harder to treat than any single
industrial source, which can be shuttered.
When it rains, E.
coli and other bacteria wash into Lake Erie. The water off certain
beaches -- among them Beach 1, Barracks Beach and Freeport Beach in
North East -- becomes risky for swimmers.
The water off Presque Isle is tested twice a week. Additional data is transmitted from a $16,000 buoy anchored off Beach 2.
"There
has been some pretty aggressive action taken at the local, regional and
state levels to really try and tackle these E. coli outbreaks and to
figure out what the source is," Masur said. "But we can't all pat
ourselves on the back. We can't go home and stop being vigilant."
The
economics won't allow it. Presque Isle draws about 4 million visitors
every year. The beaches form the core of the region's $700 million
tourism industry.
So what if the weather made the dent in the E.
coli totals? What if all that monitoring simply found that less rain
made for fewer problems in 2007?
There was a dip in
precipitation, according to the National Weather Service. Erie had
44.31 inches in 2006, and 42.18 inches in 2007.
"That could be the factor," said Nancy Stoner,
the director of the clean water project at the Natural Resource Defense
Council, an environmental nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. "All of
this bacteria is carried by storm-water and sewage overflows. So
nationwide, that's the biggest factor. That's your answer."
ROBB FREDERICK can be reached at 870-1733 or by e-mail.
