The quality of Lake Erie water in Dunkirk Harbor and the four beaches that are near it has improved since 1995, several anglers and boaters from the area were told Tuesday night during a briefing on the state of the harbor and what is being done to maintain it. In 1995, bacteria in the harbor caused Cedar, Wright, Main Street and Point Gratiot beaches to be closed. We walked through all of the storm sewers and found a few illegal connections and blocked all of that off. We determined that Hyde Creek needed a rock filter, and once we did that, the water quality improved quite a bit. Water quality at the four beaches is monitored three or four times a week, according to Steve Johnson, Chautauqua County director of environmental health.
Bad weather means bad water.
Johnson noted that the beaches do not close often and that the quality of beaches has been good. Another encouraging point is that, because of large amount of rain in the last month and a half, the lake level is almost back to where it should be. O'Neill said the lake fluctuates by more than a foot from its peak in the midsummer to its lowest level in early January. Right now, it is within an inch of where it would normally be during this time of year. The improved water quality has also helped the fish population.