That is typically the response any Central New York would give you when asked if they would take a dip in Onondaga Lake.
But according to a survey released this week, at least 31-thousand, 800 people said they would swim in the lake.
In a similar survey that drew over 19-hundred responses, just 57% of those people said the water is not safe for swimming, 22% said it is safe and 21% said they don’t know.
These surveys come as a result of a 3-hundred 30-thousand dollar study from the county to see if it should build a beach at the lake.
I spoke on the phone with Travis Glazier, the county’s Environmental Health Director, and he said that the people wanting to swim in the lake are the people who go there the most often.
Glazier: “People’s time in Onondaga Lake Park is directly correlated with their doubling of their potential to swim in Onondaga Lake.
The more time you go and spend at Onondaga Lake Park, you’re twice as likely to swim in Onondaga Lake.”
But when I took a trip to Onondaga Lake Park that did not seem to be the case.
Amanda Nelson says she comes to the park once a week to take walks with her husband and dog.
But under no circumstances would she ever go in the water, or want the area to become a beach.
Nelson: “It would still hold the value it has now, but putting a beach in?
I wouldn’t want to go to that beach knowing what I know.”
What this recent survey shows is that some people think the lake is safe to swim in while others think the water is just plain filthy. Well I got curious, I brought my own cup to the lake and decided to scoop a cup of water out and this is what I got. So you guys tell me, do you think this water is safe to swim in? Let me know on Twitter @jpaura24. From Onondaga Lake Park, I’m Justin Paura, NCC News.
By Justin Paura SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Onondaga Lake has consistently held a reputation of being dirty and not safe for the human skin. Despite that notion, a recent survey came out and said that at least 31,800 Central New York residents would take a dip in the lake. This survey came as part of a $330,000 study being done by Onondaga County to decide whether or not they should build a beach at the lake.
For each of the past ten years, the north end of the lake passed state standards for low bacteria count and in 2015 there were 50 people who swam in the lake just to prove its safety. Onondaga County Environmental Health Director Travis Glazier said that those who spend the most time at Onondaga Lake Park are most likely the ones who feel safe swimming in the lake.
“People’s time in Onondaga Lake Park is directly correlated with their doubling of their potential to swim in Onondaga Lake.” Glazier said. “The more time you go and spend at Onondaga Lake Park, you’re twice as likely to swim in Onondaga Lake.”
One person who would disagree with Glazier’s findings is Amanda Nelson. Nelson has lived in the Baldwinsville area for the majority of her life and heads down to the park once a week to take walks with her husband and dog. She said that she would never feel safe going in the water and is against the idea of a beach coming.
“It would still hold the value it has [to me] now, but putting a beach in?” Nelson said. “I wouldn’t want to go to that beach knowing what I know.”
Another survey part of the study asked Central New Yorkers if they think the water is safe enough to swim in, different from asking whether or not they would go in the water themselves. 57% of people said they don’t think the water is safe, 22% said it is safe and the other 21% said they don’t know.
