Posted November 30, 2009 :: Three co-op students hope their summer's worth of research will help improve the public's perception and appreciation of Edgewater and Euclid/Villa Angela beaches.

And, if the public also better understands the important work the Sewer District is doing, that's OK, too.

"And really, our analysis has only scratched the surface." Sam Kloss, co-op student, Case Western Reserve University

Sam Kloss, Cody Notz, Jennifer Zoldak worked this summer and fall with Manager of Watershed Programs, Policies & Technical Support Lester Stumpe collecting bacteria, water-quality, and related-process data at Edgewater and Euclid/Villa Angela beaches.

By studying environmental factors (such as wave height, beach slopes, and sand loss rates) and quantifying potential sources of pollution (like runoff, overflows, and waterfowl feces), they gained insight that could improve bacteria-prediction models and beach-management practices.

"Most of the work we did has actually not been done before," said Notz, a student at Case Western Reserve University, "and we defined several [new] variables that we believe will be significant in future studies and efforts to improve the beaches."

The students collected original data with the help of the Sewer District's Water Quality & Industrial Surveillance and Analytical Services departments, and analyzed pages of data to better understand the processes leading to contamination of the lake water, as well as the beach sand. Some of them included runoff, detritus (floating debris), and waterfowl feces.

When asked if the water-bacteria/sand-bacteria scenario was a "Which came first?" chicken/egg debate ("Is the bacteria in sand and sediment contaminating the beach water, or is the lake water contaminating the beach sand?"), CWRU student Kloss' answer summarized the goal of the entire summer.

"There's a relationship between the two, and our goal was to understand these process as a system," he said. "Where might pollution be coming from, and are there ways of better controlling those sources?" Their research also included how environmental factors at each beach may be affecting the bacteria counts. "And really, our analysis has only scratched the surface."

At Edgewater Beach, a system called Nowcasting uses scientific models to predict bacteria levels for a given day; the predictions can be found on the Sewer District's homepage during the beach season. The students' data may help to improve upon the system's 76% accuracy rate in the future.

Stumpe estimates that organizations like the Ohio Water Development Authority (OWDA), the US Geological Survey (USGS), and the Ohio Department of Health have contributed close to $1.5 million in funding and services in cooperative efforts to conduct beach research over the last 15 to 20 years.

"I think our beach resources are immensely undervalued," Stumpe said. "With improved management, they could be greatly enhanced in the esteem of many of the people in the Cleveland area. So we hope we're about that process providing science for improved management, and eventually better appreciation, of our beaches."

Stumpe, Kloss, Notz, and Zoldak plan to develop three letter reports for submission to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources--the agency responsible for beach management--as well as other supporting beach-management agencies and stakeholders.

Said Zoldak, a Cleveland State University student: "If the Sewer District is related to anything that improves the quality of our beaches, if people know we're the ones doing this research, it's going to reflect positively on the Sewer District."