Activities under the Water Safety standard aim to prevent and/or reduce exposure and transmission of water-borne illnesses.
The OPHS and the HPPA dictate minimum requirements for inspection, enforcement, surveillance, and reporting under the Safe Drinking Water Act; and for monitoring, reporting, and responding to suspected and confirmed water-borne illnesses or outbreaks. A unique issue in WEC is the presence of blue-green algae blooms that appear in Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair every summer affecting both the ecology and safety of water in this area. Water safety education and information is provided to school boards, local public works and utilities, and small drinking water system owners/operators, private well owners, and the general public.
Examples of local data that influence program implementation include:
- To date, in 2019 the WECHU inspected 157 recreational water facilities. Of these, 41 required re-inspection and there have been 2 pool closures. There have been 11 complaints received to date in 2019.
- There are nine public beaches in the region monitored for E. coli levels and blue-green algae. These nine beaches were monitored weekly over a 14-week time period in 2018 resulting in 675 beach water samples submitted. Of these samples, 35 resulted in a warning being issued due to the water quality and there were six results that required a beach closure.