Toledo Residents Spend Their Sunday Without Running Water
Gov. John Kasich speaks about water advisory in Toledo
Mary Kilpatrick, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on August 03, 2014 at 6:58 PM, updated August 03, 2014 at 7:02 PM
TOLEDO, Ohio – Busy Toledo residents ran errands on Sunday and pretended like this weekend was like any other. They stocked up on food for the week. Checked items off shopping lists. The grocery store looked fairly normal: Except bottled water sat in most carts.
"Today I have been able to find water," Cori Lortz, 35, said as she stood in the meat department.
She motioned to a stockpile of H20 sitting in the center of the aisle. "But not the first day."
Toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie contaminated the Toledo water supply Saturday, and the people here have been without running water for almost two days. Gov. John Kasich declared a state of emergency in the area on Saturday, and said he plans to ask for FEMA money.
The toxin, called microcystin, will not affect the Cleveland water supply, which also draws from Lake Erie. Northeast Ohio sits in a different basin of the lake, and the pollutant should not spread, Cleveland public utilities spokesman Jason Wood said. The pollutant forms when excessive fertilizer and manure runs off into Lake Erie.
Across Toledo, people waited all day for the OK to drink the water. That never came.
It's too soon to tell if the water is safe to use, Kasich said Sunday outside the Lucas County Emergency Management Center. Water samples rushed to Environmental Protection Agency laboratories showed low levels of the pollutant on Sunday, but scientists need more tests, and time, to determine if the water OK to drink.
The state trucked in thousands of gallons of bottled water to Toledo, and handed cases to people outside high schools and fire departments. Grocery stores kept water on the shelves. No one was without bottled water, but no one was happy.
"There's nothing we can do about it," 72-year-old Nancy Woodward, as she headed home from the grocery store with a case of water.
People can't drink or brush their teeth with the water, but the can shower, Toledo Utilities spokesman Ed Moore said. You can't boil the water, because it concentrates the toxin. People can wash their clothes in cold water.
The most vulnerable residents — sick patients at hospitals— never went without the proper care, ProMedica Hospital spokeswoman Tedra White said.
The group runs four area medical centers, including the ProMedica Toledo Hospital and ProMedica Toledo Children's hospital.
"At this point we're proceeding like this is going to last for several days," she said.
Toledo emergency rooms saw an influx of patients worried because they drank the toxic water, but no one showed symptoms associated with the pollutant.
Most restaurants remained closed over the weekend, with the exception of Vino's Pizza, a popular chain. Kitchens used bottled water to make the dough, and kept slinging pies, manager Derrick Ullery, 23, said. Hungry customers dialed in orders for barbecue chicken pizza and kept the workers busy.
To pass the time, parents hauled crabby kids to the Toledo Zoo, where 6,000 animals have water in their bowls, Executive Director Jeff Sailor said. The zoo bought a large amount of well water when news of the shortage hit.
Workers moved flamingos from their exhibit because the sand may have absorbed contaminated water, Zoo spokeswoman Andi Norman said.
Otherwise, penguins, hippos and polar bears splashed in their pools Sunday, oblivious to the water shortage.
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| Water consumption and use has been banned in northern Ohio and southern Michigan. |
Mary Kilpatrick, Northeast Ohio Media Group
on August 03, 2014 at 6:58 PM, updated August 03, 2014 at 7:02 PM
TOLEDO, Ohio – Busy Toledo residents ran errands on Sunday and pretended like this weekend was like any other. They stocked up on food for the week. Checked items off shopping lists. The grocery store looked fairly normal: Except bottled water sat in most carts.
"Today I have been able to find water," Cori Lortz, 35, said as she stood in the meat department.
She motioned to a stockpile of H20 sitting in the center of the aisle. "But not the first day."
Toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie contaminated the Toledo water supply Saturday, and the people here have been without running water for almost two days. Gov. John Kasich declared a state of emergency in the area on Saturday, and said he plans to ask for FEMA money.
The toxin, called microcystin, will not affect the Cleveland water supply, which also draws from Lake Erie. Northeast Ohio sits in a different basin of the lake, and the pollutant should not spread, Cleveland public utilities spokesman Jason Wood said. The pollutant forms when excessive fertilizer and manure runs off into Lake Erie.
Across Toledo, people waited all day for the OK to drink the water. That never came.
It's too soon to tell if the water is safe to use, Kasich said Sunday outside the Lucas County Emergency Management Center. Water samples rushed to Environmental Protection Agency laboratories showed low levels of the pollutant on Sunday, but scientists need more tests, and time, to determine if the water OK to drink.
The state trucked in thousands of gallons of bottled water to Toledo, and handed cases to people outside high schools and fire departments. Grocery stores kept water on the shelves. No one was without bottled water, but no one was happy.
"There's nothing we can do about it," 72-year-old Nancy Woodward, as she headed home from the grocery store with a case of water.
People can't drink or brush their teeth with the water, but the can shower, Toledo Utilities spokesman Ed Moore said. You can't boil the water, because it concentrates the toxin. People can wash their clothes in cold water.
The most vulnerable residents — sick patients at hospitals— never went without the proper care, ProMedica Hospital spokeswoman Tedra White said.
The group runs four area medical centers, including the ProMedica Toledo Hospital and ProMedica Toledo Children's hospital.
"At this point we're proceeding like this is going to last for several days," she said.
Toledo emergency rooms saw an influx of patients worried because they drank the toxic water, but no one showed symptoms associated with the pollutant.
Most restaurants remained closed over the weekend, with the exception of Vino's Pizza, a popular chain. Kitchens used bottled water to make the dough, and kept slinging pies, manager Derrick Ullery, 23, said. Hungry customers dialed in orders for barbecue chicken pizza and kept the workers busy.
To pass the time, parents hauled crabby kids to the Toledo Zoo, where 6,000 animals have water in their bowls, Executive Director Jeff Sailor said. The zoo bought a large amount of well water when news of the shortage hit.
Workers moved flamingos from their exhibit because the sand may have absorbed contaminated water, Zoo spokeswoman Andi Norman said.
Otherwise, penguins, hippos and polar bears splashed in their pools Sunday, oblivious to the water shortage.
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