YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - On Thursday, Ohio EPA officials are expected meet with officials from the Mill Creek MetroParks, the city of Youngstown and Mahoning County District Board of Health.

During that meeting, Mill Creek Park officials hope to gain a better understanding of how the water within the park's three lakes should be tested moving forward.  

Mill Creek Park's executive director Aaron Young says he hopes the meeting sheds light on who responsible for testing the water, how it should be tested, when it should be tested and how often it should be tested.

Last week, the lakes were closed to the public after high levels of E.Coli were found in the water.  Ohio EPA determined overflows from Youngstown's combine sewer system sent sewage into Lake Newport depleting oxygen levels within the lake, which killed hundreds of fish.

"Once it is declared safe and we open back up, it is still within the realm of possibility that there may be another closure if we get another significant rain event because the real answer is until the CSOs (combine sewer overflows) are addressed and not emptying into the water bodies, this is a condition we are going to have to live with," said executive director Aaron Young with the Mill Creek MetroParks.

The Mahoning County District Board of Health tested the lake last Thursday, determining then, Lake Newport had unsafe levels of E.Coli and high levels fecal coliform according to EPA guidelines.

However, officials haven't been able to find any baseline data from Lake Newport to compare these latest numbers.  Officials tell 21 News they are unsure if the lakes have always had high levels of bacteria or if these latest readings were caused solely by significant rainfall.

In June, more than nine inches of rain fell in the Youngstown area, which is about five inches more than a typical rainfall amount for June.

"You want to know how that lake is operating throughout the whole season.  When it is not raining, you want to know what the levels are at and then when it does rain, you want to know what it is exceeding," said environmental director Ryan Tekac with the Mahoning County District Board of Health.