Holy Toledo: 500,000 Residents In Toledo, Ohio Area Have Undrinkable Water After Dangerous Toxins Found
Residents in the Toledo-area are under a do-not-drink advisory after learning the city’s water supply is unsafe. According to News Nugget, samples from a water treatment plant revealed concentrations of microcystin, a toxin released by an algae bloom, exceeded recommended limits.
500,000 people in Toledo and Lucas County, as well as nearby Fulton County and parts of Monroe County, Michigan are affected. Officials are advising residents to not even boil the water for usage because it could increase the concentration of toxins in the water.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich declared a state of emergency.
The data from two city tests were contradictory, the mayor said it, “is very confusing for everyone.”
“We really don’t have a true answer. One set of tests is different from the other,” he said. “We don’t know for sure these [city] tests are proof positive, but certainly we’re not taking any risks.”
Mayor D. Michael Collins feels confident that the algae crisis will bring about permanent change in how Lake Erie and other natural resources are managed. He faulted agricultural fertilizer runoff, sewage overflows “up in Michigan,” and other pollution for Toledo’s problem, according to the The Toledo Blade.
“I don’t believe we’ll ever be back to normal,” the mayor said. “But this is not going to be our new normal. We’re going to fix this. Our city is not going to be abandoned.”
News Nugget reports that city officials have promised one free case of water to every household in the area which was affected, but that alert resulted in bottled water disappearing from store shelves across northwest Ohio.
One case of water isn’t very much to sustain a household full of people.
edmeyer_able August 3rd, 2014 at 10:18 am
>Mayor D. Michael Collins feels confident that the algae crisis will bring about permanent change in how Lake Erie and other natural resources are managed.
I wish I could share in his optimism.
Kingminnie August 3rd, 2014 at 11:06 am
I wish that too, I live here.
edmeyer_able August 3rd, 2014 at 11:13 am
I to live in an area where our water comes from a local lake. Fortunately some steps were taken years ago to mitigate septic tank usage, but farm runoff is still a concern. I wish you well.
mea_mark August 3rd, 2014 at 11:27 am
If it gets more Americans to realize how important the environment is to our very survival and that it needs to be protected, then it might bring about change. Hopefully we will see some results in November at the polls. This could turn Ohio solidly blue. Survival is pretty important as an issue and should show up in the polls rather quickly.
Kingminnie August 3rd, 2014 at 12:29 pm
I live in Toledo, where the crisis is, and it’s already pretty blue. We’re mostly ignored by the State gov. unless it’s election time. If this happened in the southern part of our state you might be right, but I doubt it. Appalachia and coal mines, Ohitucky.
Anomaly 100 August 3rd, 2014 at 12:58 pm
I’m so sorry you’re going through this.
Kingminnie August 3rd, 2014 at 6:01 pm
You don’t realize how much you take it for granted. BUT it’s honestly a heartwarming experience to see our city and communities step up. Selfless acts, some buying extra water so they can give it away, checking on the elderly and those with babies, some with wells or in areas that have clean water filling up tanks and driving here to give away, I could go on and on. Sure there’s your requisite assholes and some outlets price gouging but for the most part it restores faith in humanity.
Anomaly 100 August 3rd, 2014 at 6:22 pm
During a blizzard in NYC, people just looked out for each other. A homeless guy on the corner, helping old ladies so they don’t slip on the ice. During Sandy, we joined together to be sure the elderly in high rises had water because walking up and down 20 sets of stairs isn’t doable for them.
Sometimes good things happen out of bad. Kudos for your attitude.
granpa.usthai August 3rd, 2014 at 2:05 pm
double triple ditty dots with Anomaly. Causes me to wonder what the Midwestern folks (that can’t afford to buy California bottled water) will be going through if their underground system from Nebraska to the Rio Grande starts turning Canadian Brown?
granpa.usthai August 3rd, 2014 at 1:59 pm
– just don’t forget that algae bloom is all POTUS Obama’s fault! Everybody knows that Hawaiians bloom algae year round!
-or-
is it flowers?
William August 4th, 2014 at 7:56 am
Back in the day, when I grew up on the eastern end of lake Erie, they outlawed phosphates in detergents to reduce/eliminate invasive aquatic weeds that were choking the harbors and water intakes. I wonder if this is anything similar?
William August 3rd, 2014 at 10:53 am
Meanwhile in Chicago
granpa.usthai August 3rd, 2014 at 1:55 pm
Duke Energy is facing the same problems with coal ash from their coal fired steam plants, Granpa Wil, –
sometimes I wonder if any bio engineers have thought about mixing it with asphalt ? Seems to me that if the right temperatures were reached in a sanitized enclosure, the toxins could be diluted/evaporated/and the remaining toxin free matter mixed in with asphalt to fill in our crumbling secondary roads?
…
just a thought.
edmeyer_able August 3rd, 2014 at 3:32 pm
Is this the same coke that the koch bros are bribing a congressman to introduce bill that would make burning it classified as a renewable energy source and eligible for tax write offs?
William August 4th, 2014 at 7:54 am
All I can say is WOW.
Carla Akins August 3rd, 2014 at 12:20 pm
Pfft, we don’t need no stinkin regulation.
Kingminnie August 3rd, 2014 at 12:34 pm
Big Ag and big oil are big contributors to Kasich, who is secretly planning to allow fracking in a couple state parks. It’s not likely he will get voted out this Nov. either.
granpa.usthai August 3rd, 2014 at 2:13 pm
well the founding fathers sure as SHOOTIN’ thought there was some things that needed to be REGULATED! They said as much in the 2nd Amendment, and if Republicans are ever able to conceive a number greater than 1, some of them may even start to realize why it’s important to take an Amendment to the US Constitution in it’s entire context instead of pieces for profits.
RioBravoHombre August 3rd, 2014 at 1:24 pm
Corporations are PEOPLE, my friends! So….let’s put some of them in a FUCKING PENITENTIARY!! Or….GIVE SOME THE DEATH PENALTY!!!
granpa.usthai August 3rd, 2014 at 1:46 pm
folks has got a rite to arm bears and drink poisoned water ifn’ they want. They can swim with great whites (sharks, not republicans) , kiss a PO’d King Cobra, run naked through the jungles with the tigers, jump up and down on lion fish, or, if they’re really set on leaving planet earth…
go out on a date with Sara!
arc99 August 3rd, 2014 at 1:49 pm
The solution to this problem is simple. Gov. Kasich just needs to follow the playbook of his colleagues in the GOP when disaster strikes their state.
Demand federal assistance, and blame the President.
But looking on the bright side, given that the GOP 2016 convention will be held in Cleveland which is about a 2 hour drive from Toledo, this should pretty well put an end to the talk about abolishing the EPA.
I know the GOP is quite good at convincing citizens to vote to cut their own throats. But I do not think that even the right wing noise machine will be able to convince voters that poisoned water is the price we must pay for freedom.
Foundryman August 3rd, 2014 at 3:12 pm
Right now i’m listening to how private free market businesses are going to recoup their losses by receiving huge sums of money from the government since it’s seems their private free market insurance companies won’t cover the losses, so the tax payers have too. These are the same free market businesses that fly their gadsen flags, support the teaparty and wail against big government regulations almost daily, led of course by Toledos own Joe the Plumber. Hypocrisy is running deep in Toledo today, as it always does everywhere when the government is needed to repair damage caused by right wing ideology.
mea_mark August 3rd, 2014 at 3:26 pm
What government money?
Foundryman August 3rd, 2014 at 9:52 pm
Apparently FEMA has funds once Kasich applies for federal assistance, in the interview he said they were waiting on the EPA tests to come back then determine to get federal help.
edmeyer_able August 3rd, 2014 at 3:13 pm
Some background info on the cause and yes it can happen to your lake too.
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/03/3467068/toledo-ohio-water-crisis/
edmeyer_able August 4th, 2014 at 4:49 pm
Well looks like the algae bloom has come to NY.Not sure how many people get their drinking water from this lake or what steps they’ll take to mitigate the damage.
http://www.localsyr.com/story/d/story/algae-blooms-shut-down-oneida-shores-joseph-f-will/25994/GSjaSaQmP0imv2CNeFEQ-A