Toledo Mayor: 'Our Water Is Safe'; No-drink Water Advisory Lifted
Louis Aguilar and Tom Greenwood
The Detroit News
Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins gave the OK to lift the water ban that has been in effect in parts of northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan for the past three days due to a harmful algae bloom buildup in Lake Erie.
“Our water is safe," Collins said.
The lifting of the ban was announced at 9:30 a.m. Monday after six samples taken from two different neighborhoods in the city of 400,000 finally passed EPA-approved pollution levels.
Earlier test results for the city showed the water was safe for consumption, but Collins had declined to lift the ban based on questionable water levels in the two neighborhoods, located in east Toledo and Point Place neighborhoods.
“All six test results showed that there were no problems whatsoever,” Collins said. “The ban on the entire city has been lifted.”
According to Collins, there were no reported illnesses caused by the polluted water.
At the same time the ban was lifted in Toledo, it was also lifted for 30,000 residents in the Monroe area, which is attached to the Toledo water system.
“There have been no reported illnesses in the Monroe area,” said Kim Comerzan, a health officer for the Monroe County Health Department. “We put the ban into effect at the same time it went into effect in Toledo.”
The Monroe health department released an advisory at about 10 a.m. Monday telling residents about the lift of the ban and how to flush their water systems.
Eric Zgodzinski, of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, also advised residents to flush their water systems before using them again but cautioned them from doing it all at once, saying too much flushing could overwhelm the area’s system.
“If you haven’t been using the system for any purpose, including the toilet, then flush the system,” Zgodzinski said. “If you’ve been using your water, but you are still a little nervous, run the tap for about 15 minutes, both the hot and cold spigots. The same goes for restaurants.
“People who have added water to their swimming pools over the past three days should super shock the water with chlorine or perhaps drain the pool.”
Residents were also advised to clean out ice makers/ice trays and to flush water filtration systems.
Officials said residents should avoid using water for recreational purposes, including watering lawns or washing cars in the near future.
The water ban had affected northwest Ohio and parts of southeast Michigan after tests showed some toxins still contaminating Lake Erie, leaving residents to scramble for water for drinking, cooking and bathing.
In a press release, the Michigan State Police said it, along with Emergency Management and Homeland Security, were standing by to assist Monroe County emergency services due to the discovery of high levels of microcystin found in water samples from Toledo.
Microcystin is one of many toxins potentially produced from harmful algal blooms. Consuming water containing algal toxins may result in abnormal liver function, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, numbness or dizziness.
In Monroe County, the water ban affected more than 30,000 individuals in city of Luna Pier and Bedford, LaSalle and Erie townships.
Collins said early Monday that most of the tests done by state and federal authorities on Sunday showed a positive trend.
The suspected culprit of Toledo’s water crisis is an algal bloom, a giant, malodorous toxin that’s caused in part by agricultural pollution and has bedeviled Lake Erie for years.
The crisis affected 400,000 people in northern Ohio and 30,000 households in southeast Michigan.
Researchers largely blame the algae's resurgence on manure and chemical fertilizer from farms that wash into the lake along with sewage treatment plants.
The blooms were a big problem in the 1960s and have returned with a vengeance in Lake Erie in the past few years. In 2011, scientists recorded about 1,900 square miles of algal blooms in the Great Lakes. They’ve also been detected in the Saginaw Bay and Green Bay as well as several inland lakes.
Once the crisis became apparent, Toledo utilized vehicles from the Ohio Highway Patrol to send water samples for testing to three locations: the Ohio EPA lab in Columbus, the U.S. EPA lab in Cincinnati, and Lake Superior State University in the Upper Peninsula.
“The results were all over the board,” Collins said Monday. “I’m responsible for 500,000 people, and I’m not going to err on the side of risk, I’m going to err on the side of safety. Late Sunday, we all came to a consensus ... the EPA and our scientists. We received more results from Columbus and Cincinnati and the results were encouraging.”
Except for the two problem neighborhoods.
“There is no quick fix to this problem,” said Dave Davison, mayor of Luna Pier, one of four Monroe County communities advised not to drink tap water it receives from Toledo.
Since late July, Luna Pier residents have been complaining of a strong odor coming from the lake, particularly on Harold Drive between Ann and North Sixth streets. The mayor brought in Monroe County environmental health officials to inspect the shoreline. The odor was coming from decomposition of the algae lying on the beach.
Recent satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show a concentrated algae bloom right where Toledo draws its water.
The contamination was a surprise because the bloom is usually near the surface of the lake, and Toledo gets its water from near the bottom, said Gary Fahnenstiel, a research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute.
Lake Erie is susceptible to algal blooms because of climate change, increased storms and zebra mussels that alter the composition of the water, he said. It’s the shallowest of the five Great Lakes and is less prone to flowing water, making it vulnerable to problems caused by farm runoff or sludge from treatment facilities.
“It’s simply not one thing,” said Fahnenstiel, a former NOAA scientist. “A lot of factors come together to have a bloom like this, and we should view this as an event like a hurricane or a storm. I wouldn’t be worried.”
Weather conditions made it such that bloom was “going right into the water intakes,” said Jeff Reutter, head of the Ohio Sea Grant research lab.
Is Toledo’s problem a wake-up call?
“Yes,” said Don Scavia, director of U-M’s Graham institute, wrote in an email. “While other factors, like climate and zebra and quagga mussels appear to have changed the susceptibility of the system, the primary driver is the amount of phosphorus entering the lake from the agriculturally dominated watersheds. The most protective thing that can be done is to reduce those river loads.”
Scavia also pointed out the algal bloom is not uniform across the lake, so the impact won’t necessarily spread.
A recent study by the Ohio government found Lake Erie received the most phosphorous of any of the Great Lakes, about 44 percent of the total of all the lakes. About two-thirds of that phosphorous came from agricultural land, according to the report.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
Twitter: LouisAguilar_DN
Detroit News staff writer Joel Kurth and Associated Press contributed.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140804/METRO06/308040019#ixzz39RFPBLbK
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| Toledo fire station distributes bottled water during a water crisis. |
The Detroit News
Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins gave the OK to lift the water ban that has been in effect in parts of northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan for the past three days due to a harmful algae bloom buildup in Lake Erie.
“Our water is safe," Collins said.
The lifting of the ban was announced at 9:30 a.m. Monday after six samples taken from two different neighborhoods in the city of 400,000 finally passed EPA-approved pollution levels.
Earlier test results for the city showed the water was safe for consumption, but Collins had declined to lift the ban based on questionable water levels in the two neighborhoods, located in east Toledo and Point Place neighborhoods.
“All six test results showed that there were no problems whatsoever,” Collins said. “The ban on the entire city has been lifted.”
According to Collins, there were no reported illnesses caused by the polluted water.
At the same time the ban was lifted in Toledo, it was also lifted for 30,000 residents in the Monroe area, which is attached to the Toledo water system.
“There have been no reported illnesses in the Monroe area,” said Kim Comerzan, a health officer for the Monroe County Health Department. “We put the ban into effect at the same time it went into effect in Toledo.”
The Monroe health department released an advisory at about 10 a.m. Monday telling residents about the lift of the ban and how to flush their water systems.
Eric Zgodzinski, of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, also advised residents to flush their water systems before using them again but cautioned them from doing it all at once, saying too much flushing could overwhelm the area’s system.
“If you haven’t been using the system for any purpose, including the toilet, then flush the system,” Zgodzinski said. “If you’ve been using your water, but you are still a little nervous, run the tap for about 15 minutes, both the hot and cold spigots. The same goes for restaurants.
“People who have added water to their swimming pools over the past three days should super shock the water with chlorine or perhaps drain the pool.”
Residents were also advised to clean out ice makers/ice trays and to flush water filtration systems.
Officials said residents should avoid using water for recreational purposes, including watering lawns or washing cars in the near future.
The water ban had affected northwest Ohio and parts of southeast Michigan after tests showed some toxins still contaminating Lake Erie, leaving residents to scramble for water for drinking, cooking and bathing.
In a press release, the Michigan State Police said it, along with Emergency Management and Homeland Security, were standing by to assist Monroe County emergency services due to the discovery of high levels of microcystin found in water samples from Toledo.
Microcystin is one of many toxins potentially produced from harmful algal blooms. Consuming water containing algal toxins may result in abnormal liver function, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, numbness or dizziness.
In Monroe County, the water ban affected more than 30,000 individuals in city of Luna Pier and Bedford, LaSalle and Erie townships.
Collins said early Monday that most of the tests done by state and federal authorities on Sunday showed a positive trend.
The suspected culprit of Toledo’s water crisis is an algal bloom, a giant, malodorous toxin that’s caused in part by agricultural pollution and has bedeviled Lake Erie for years.
The crisis affected 400,000 people in northern Ohio and 30,000 households in southeast Michigan.
Researchers largely blame the algae's resurgence on manure and chemical fertilizer from farms that wash into the lake along with sewage treatment plants.
The blooms were a big problem in the 1960s and have returned with a vengeance in Lake Erie in the past few years. In 2011, scientists recorded about 1,900 square miles of algal blooms in the Great Lakes. They’ve also been detected in the Saginaw Bay and Green Bay as well as several inland lakes.
Once the crisis became apparent, Toledo utilized vehicles from the Ohio Highway Patrol to send water samples for testing to three locations: the Ohio EPA lab in Columbus, the U.S. EPA lab in Cincinnati, and Lake Superior State University in the Upper Peninsula.
“The results were all over the board,” Collins said Monday. “I’m responsible for 500,000 people, and I’m not going to err on the side of risk, I’m going to err on the side of safety. Late Sunday, we all came to a consensus ... the EPA and our scientists. We received more results from Columbus and Cincinnati and the results were encouraging.”
Except for the two problem neighborhoods.
“There is no quick fix to this problem,” said Dave Davison, mayor of Luna Pier, one of four Monroe County communities advised not to drink tap water it receives from Toledo.
Since late July, Luna Pier residents have been complaining of a strong odor coming from the lake, particularly on Harold Drive between Ann and North Sixth streets. The mayor brought in Monroe County environmental health officials to inspect the shoreline. The odor was coming from decomposition of the algae lying on the beach.
Recent satellite images from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration show a concentrated algae bloom right where Toledo draws its water.
The contamination was a surprise because the bloom is usually near the surface of the lake, and Toledo gets its water from near the bottom, said Gary Fahnenstiel, a research scientist at the University of Michigan’s Graham Sustainability Institute.
Lake Erie is susceptible to algal blooms because of climate change, increased storms and zebra mussels that alter the composition of the water, he said. It’s the shallowest of the five Great Lakes and is less prone to flowing water, making it vulnerable to problems caused by farm runoff or sludge from treatment facilities.
“It’s simply not one thing,” said Fahnenstiel, a former NOAA scientist. “A lot of factors come together to have a bloom like this, and we should view this as an event like a hurricane or a storm. I wouldn’t be worried.”
Weather conditions made it such that bloom was “going right into the water intakes,” said Jeff Reutter, head of the Ohio Sea Grant research lab.
Is Toledo’s problem a wake-up call?
“Yes,” said Don Scavia, director of U-M’s Graham institute, wrote in an email. “While other factors, like climate and zebra and quagga mussels appear to have changed the susceptibility of the system, the primary driver is the amount of phosphorus entering the lake from the agriculturally dominated watersheds. The most protective thing that can be done is to reduce those river loads.”
Scavia also pointed out the algal bloom is not uniform across the lake, so the impact won’t necessarily spread.
A recent study by the Ohio government found Lake Erie received the most phosphorous of any of the Great Lakes, about 44 percent of the total of all the lakes. About two-thirds of that phosphorous came from agricultural land, according to the report.
laguilar@detroitnews.com
Twitter: LouisAguilar_DN
Detroit News staff writer Joel Kurth and Associated Press contributed.
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140804/METRO06/308040019#ixzz39RFPBLbK
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