It’s the beginning of August, the high of the week is 96 degrees, and it’s sweltering hot. So all you really want is a glass of water, or a cold shower. But you can’t, because the entire city has been warned to not drink, bathe or even touch the water that comes out of your sink, shower or hose due to the toxic algal bloom that has taken over Lake Erie, also taking over the water supply in northwestern Ohio. An alert sent out to Toledo residents even stating, “It is important that this drinking water alert does NOT recommend boiling, and in fact, boiling water can worsen the situation.”
The incident that occurred on Aug. 3, 2014, marks the second time Ohio has been forced to issue a “do not drink” warning because of algae-related toxins. A similar warning was issued for another Ohio city, Carrol Township, in 2013 after the toxic algae was detected there. But algae blooms are a force to be reckoned with, so potent that the military has studied its potential to be weaponized. In fact, according to the LA Times, a bloom, more harmful than the one in Lake Erie, killed 50 people in Brazil in 1996. Its effects include: abnormal liver function, vomiting, nausea, and numbness or dizziness. While it is harmful to humans, it’s more likely to kill animals, according to an EPA report.
An algal bloom, which is what caused this catastrophe, is a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system caused by climate change and are fairly common in Lake Erie, which supplies most of the water for Toledo (npr.org). These blooms caused residents to buy bottles of water in order to function somewhat normally for those four days.
As water in stores flew off the shelves people had to travel a little further to get even just a pack of water bottles. Gov. John Kasich dispatched the National Guard to the Toledo area after stores there – and over the border of Michigan – began running out of bottled water.
“It looked like black Friday,” said Aundrea Simmons on ohio.com, who stood in a line of about 50 people at a pharmacy just to buy four cases of water.
“As long as you have bottles of water, life hasn’t changed,” said Brendan Cobb in the LA Times, a 25-year-old studying for his master’s in business at the University of Toledo.
Harmful algal blooms like the one that occurred in Ohio have been reported in every coastal state in the US, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But none have lasted as long as this one.
“The algal bloom caused the issue,” said Department of Public Utilities Director Ed Moore (noaa.org). “The plant did not cause the issue.” The estimated cost of this water crisis is $270,000, said City Finance Director George Sarantou, which includes $73,000 for Department of Public Utilities overtime pay, $52,000 for department of Public Services overtime pay, $48,000 Toledo Police Department overtime pay, $10,000 in Sheriff’s Department overtime pay and $10,000 to fly water samples to Cincinnati, Columbus, and Michigan’s upper peninsula for testing. Sarantou said that he’s not sure if Toledo will be charged for flying the samples, but for now he’s including it in the costs (freep.com).
The bacteria that caused this mess is known as microcystis. It needs warm temperatures and the nutrients phosphorous and nitrogen to grow. Microcystis is a kind of cyanobacteria, often mistakenly referred to as blue-green algae, and they bear poisons. There were at least 80 different varieties of microcystis at the time of the bloom (npr.org).
Most people think a disaster this big can’t just be caused by climate change. Well, they’re right. It’s not. According to Scientificamerican.org, rain and agriculture play just as big of role as climate change does. The rain washes the phosphorous off of farm fields and into creeks, streams and rivers. And that water then flows into the shallowest part of the Great Lakes – Lake Erie – which is only 18 meters deep on average and is way shallower than its western side. All that phosphorous doesn’t just help plants grow, it also helps the growth of the bright green algae as soon as it reaches Lake Erie. Causing the water to turn the color of “pea soup”, as witnesses say.
Monroe High School biology teacher Nicole Shaughnessy expresses her thoughts on the summertime algal bloom, agreeing that phosphorous is the leading cause stating, “due to the wide amounts of agriculture in Ohio and Michigan, the phosphorous was dumping loads and loads of it into the water causing the algal bloom, and the high temperatures didn’t help either. The phosphorous is still getting dumped into Lake Erie, but just not as big amounts.”
