Princess Health and Tips for staying healthy and safe on Kentucky's waters. Princessiccia

Princess Health and Tips for staying healthy and safe on Kentucky's waters. Princessiccia

recreation water water safety

Gusty 09:22 Add Comment

Brad Molnar on Taylorsville Lake
(Courier-Journal file photo, 2003)

The state Division of Water and Department for Public Health offer tips to help Kentuckians stay safe and healthy as they go boating, fishing, swimming or otherwise recreate in the state's waterways this summer:

• Avoid ingesting or inhaling the water.
• Thoroughly clean hands and other areas that have come in contact with the water.
• Avoid allowing open wounds to have direct contact with the water.
• Avoid areas where swimming or harmful algal bloom advisories have been issued.
• Avoid water with obvious odors or surface scums.
• Avoid getting in water after heavy rainfall, especially in dense residential, urban and agricultural areas.
• Avoid areas below wastewater-treatment outfalls, animal feedlots, straight pipes or other obvious sources of pollution.
• Restrict pets and livestock from drinking the water if a bright green or blue-green surface scum is present.

James Bruggers, environmental reporter for The Courier-Journal, reminds us: "The Clean Water Act of 1972 declared that all waterways in the United States were to be 'fishable and swimmable' by 1985. We've made progress, but we have a long way to go. Be safe out there."

Princess Health and Some Christian Co. health board members balk at director's idea of using $100,000 of $2.4 million reserve for recreational trail.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Some Christian Co. health board members balk at director's idea of using $100,000 of $2.4 million reserve for recreational trail.Princessiccia

county health boards county health departments exercise health departments recreation

Gusty 09:20 Add Comment

The director of the Christian County Health Department urged its board to give $100,000 from reserves to fund a rail-to-trail project to provide residents with new opportunities for exercise.

Coverting old railroad beds to recreation trails could help improve Christian County's infrastructure to promote healthy living, which is needed because a study last year ranked Christian County 116th out of Kentucky's 120 counties in this area, said Health Department Director Mark Pyle.

The department has $2.4 million in reserve, but several board members opposed the idea, citing a budget shortfall this fiscal year, financial troubles with the school-nurse program and delays in Medicaid reimbursements, reports Nick Tabor of the Kentucky New Era.

The City of Hopkinsville hopes to raise $400,000 for the first phase of the trail project. A recreational trail would initiate a culture change and residents should have public resources equal to those of other regions, Mayor Dan Kemp told Taylor.

Pyle told Tabor the trail would help the health department accomplish its goal of advancing public health, and the reserve money isn't there for sitting on. He said he believes the board will agree to using the money for the project at its next meeting, April 22, after considering funding priorities.

The New Era endorsed the health department's contribution as a good investment in local health, which by law is the health board's responsibility. For a PDF of the editorial and the news story, click here.