Why toxic algae blooms are taking over Lake Erie
Satellite image of 2013 intense bloom, which was concentrated in the lake’s western basin. (Click for a high resolution image. MODIS/NASA, processed by NOAA/NOS/NCCOS)Toxic algae blooms are back. After largely subsiding in the 1980s and 1990s, these algae blooms have been causing trouble in Lake Erie in the last decade.
This past weekend, the city of Toledo had to warn 500,000 people to avoid all tap water for three days after a toxin created by blue-green algae showed up in the system.
Read Article >Toledo says it’s safe to drink the water again
Thomas Trutschel/Photothek/Getty ImagesThe city then scrambled to conduct follow-up tests — and, at a press conference Monday, the city’s mayor said that the latest tests showed the drinking water to be safe.
In particular, follow-up tests by both the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and the US Environmental Protection Agency found that the algae-based toxin had likely dissipated to safe levels. The test results have not yet been made public, however.
Read Article >Toxic algae leaves Toledo without drinking water
A 2012 algae bloom in Lake Erie. The latest algae bloom may be responsible for leaving 500,000 people without drinking water. Olga NohraNearly 500,000 people in northwestern Ohio have been warned not to drink or boil their tap water since Saturday. (Update: On Monday, the mayor of Toledo lifted the drinking-water ban, saying tests had shown the water was safe to drink again.)
The reason for the ban? Water officials in Toledo found evidence of microcystin — a toxin created by blue-green algae that can cause nausea and liver damage.
Read Article >
