YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Mill Creek's Board of Park Commissioners are scheduled to meet tonight and discuss the current and future status of the park's lakes, which have been closed since July.

One item on the meeting's agenda is an update on Lake Newport's water quality.  

Officials from the Mahoning County Board of Health are a quarter of the way through 12 weeks of collecting and testing lake water samples for bacteria.  

The lakes themselves have been closed to recreational use since higher than acceptable levels of E. coli were discovered in early July Lake Newport test samples.  

Mill Creek says a significant source of the E. coli is the combined sewer overflows from the City of Youngstown’s sanitary sewer system.  E. coli is a bacteria whose presence indicates that water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes,

Park officials have also set up a web-page where water quality testing results and news can be accessed.  The new page, which can be found here, is part of the MetroPark's website and will be discussed at tonight's meeting.

Board members are also due to consider the possibility of dredging the lake.

Potential plans for dredging, in which the bed of a body of water is cleaned by scooping out mud and other objects, are still in their initial, investigatory stages.

Tonight's meeting will be the seven-member board's first regular session since July 13th.

It is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. at Canfield's MetroParks Farm on 7574 Columbiana-Canfield Road.