CINCINNATI — A recent study conducted by University of Cincinnati students and professors found "alarming levels" of human E. coli in Burnet Woods Park.
UC Professor Bob Hyland, who helped with the study, said it's been a years-long problem.
The students investigated E. coli levels in the soil at Burnet Woods Park after "a combined sewer overflow event" (CSO) late Wednesday, April 2 and into early Thursday, April 3. During that time frame, many communities in the Tri-State were dealing with heavy rains that caused widespread flooding in the days that followed.
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a combined sewer system collects everything, including rainwater runoff, domestic sewage and wastewater into one pipe; when the amount of runoff exceeds the capacity of the system, untreated storm and waste water can flow into nearby bodies of water.
The Ohio EPA no longer allows the installation of combined sewers, because of their pollution concerns, according to the agency's website.
"The storm water, sanitary waste, and other things overflow out of the sewer and flood this lower valley," Hyland said.
Hyland wanted to show the risk from that overflow, which sparked the study.
Part of their study found that eight hours after the overflow, there was more than 600 times the amount of E. coli permitted for recreation waters.
Learn about the possible health risks from high levels of E. coli in the video below:
"It's kind of gross, because you know it's in the water and everything," UC freshman Rylee Jennings said. "It's scary because it's damaging everything."
Hyland said E. coli can cause gastrointestinal problems to those exposed. Just feet away from where Hyland said the water runoff was, there are picnic tables and a swingset.
"The biggest concern I have is that the public doesn't know," Hyland said.
We spoke to Marilyn Wall, who's a member of the Sierra Club, which is a national environmental group. Wall said she feels more needs to be done to fix the problem.
"Who wants to go to a park that smells like sewage?" Wall said.
We also spoke to Dr. Lisa Haglund, president of the Burnet Woods Advisory Council. Their group consists of volunteers who advise Cincinnati Parks of what's happening in the area.
Haglund said she wants signs put up following CSOs to warn people of the potential danger.
"I think we are pushing for the signage and a community meeting," Haglund said.
We reached out to the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), who handles the sewers at Burnet Woods, with their concerns. A spokesperson for MSD sent the following statement:
MSD and Cincinnati Parks are working together to address this issue in Burnet Woods. The main cause is stormwater runoff from heavy rainstorms that can overwhelm the sewer system and lead to overflows. There is one sewer overflow in a wooded area of the park that occurs periodically during very heavy rains. So far in 2025, it has overflowed once, and only twice in all of 2024.
MSD has sensors in place to detect when this overflow happens. When it does, MSD alerts Cincinnati Parks right away so they can temporarily close the affected area of the park to protect public health.
To help reduce the amount of stormwater entering the sewer system through the park, UC has built dozens of underground stormwater detention tanks on campus. In 2021, MSD added advanced real-time controls to the largest UC detention tank to better manage how much stormwater flows into the sewer system during storms.
We remain committed to working together on long-term solutions that improve public safety and protect our natural spaces.
A Cincinnati Parks spokesperson also sent a statement, saying, in part, "We also recognize that in the longer term a permanent, larger scale solution is needed to fix the CSO issues in the sewers upstream of the park and we are committed to working closely with MSD to make this a reality."
The spokesperson for Cincinnati Parks also said the area of Burnet Woods that the students studied was closed for 10 days due to CSO occurring during this month's flooding.
They said they have a plan in place to close the affected area of the park when CSOs occur.
However, Hyland said that's putting a Band-Aid on the problem. He and Wall said they believe the key is to let everyone get involved in the decisions.
"We need to have real collaboration where we value science and expertise, we value community input and engagement," said Hyland.
