CLEVELAND -- With the Fourth of July holiday fast approaching and temperatures rising, many people will be heading to the Lake Erie shore.

How safe is it to swim at local beaches?

It may not be the undertow swimmers need to worry about, but the bacteria.

Storms flush everything from animal waste to lawn fertilizer into the lake, health officials said. Children, the elderly and people with immune deficiencies are most at risk of becoming ill from bacteria.

The Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District created a system called Nowcast that provides the public more immediate water quality information for safer swimming at two area beaches; Huntington and Edgewater.

The Nowcast system can be used seven days a week through Labor Day by calling 216-432-7301 or checking out the Web site. The information is also posted on signs at the beach.

Other beaches are still using the old system, where health officials collect water samples during the week, then incubate colonies of bacteria for 24 hours. If the bacteria levels are above a safe amount, warning signs are posted at the beaches.

For more information on beach quality, check out these sites:

• Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District -- Today's water quality (look for green or red on left side)
• EPA Beach Advisory -- Get online closing information
• Ohio Water Science Beach Tracking -- Beach monitoring research
• NowCasting -- Real-time information for water-quality conditions