Great Parks ordered everyone off the water at Winton Woods Lake June 12, citing high levels of E. coli contamination following routine bacteria testing. That order is now lifted.
A press release says water-based recreation was restored last week, in consultation with Hamilton County Public Health.
The boathouse also has reopened after recent heavy rains flooded the building.
What happened June 12 at Winton Lake?
Test results led to the discovery of a sewage leak.
The park district said it notified Hamilton County Public Health, the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) of Greater Cincinnati and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
The sewer district confirmed to WVXU the leak is not part of the MSD system and is from a private sewer line.
Great Parks said the leak was located near the entrance to the eastern half of the park.
That day, park staff started putting up hand-washing stations, and signs warning visitors against ingesting lake water.
Not the lake's first contamination
In May of last year, a sewage leak a mile upstream in Springfield Township shut the lake down. That sewer pipe break was blamed on roots and wet wipes.
Winton Lake — named West Fork Lake by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which constructed it — was built as a flood control basin. Runoff from a 30-square-mile watershed flows into the 175-acre lake. As such, swimming is prohibited in the lake, though water activities such as boating and fishing are permitted.
The park district routinely tests the water in the lake because of its status as a flood control basin.
Great Parks of Hamilton County, in a previous statement to WVXU, wrote, "Due to the large size and urban character of the Winton Lake watershed, there are many potential contaminants that can be picked up by water on the way into the lake."
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