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That recent water crisis,
Moore emphasizes, was not the City’s fault or, at least, not
the City’s fault alone. Certainly the now-infamous Collins
Park Treatment Plant has its issues, he says of the 80-year
old facility that will be receiving a $264 million upgrade.
Those issues, however, did not contribute to the recent
water problem, a problem so potentially dangerous, that city
officials were forced to issue a drinking ban.
“The plant functions
fine,” he says. “It produces clean, safe water at a high
level.”
The problem, says Moore,
who, after more than 20 years of service with the City, was
appointed to the position of director of Public Utilities in
April 2014, is Lake Erie algae, particularly the microcystis
that has become so dominant in the lake over the past two
decades. Microcystis, one of three types of algae in the
lake, produces a toxin – microcystin – which can attack the
human liver and is one of the most powerful toxins in
nature.
Relatively warm weather,
scientists believe, has led to the growth of algae
containing microcystis and that growth has been exacerbated
over recent years by human folly – feeding the algae with
nutrients such as sewage spills, manure and fertilizer
runoff from farms and lawn products from local residences.
The recent crisis began,
says Moore, when routine testing of water samples brought in
numbers that were close to what the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency considers unsafe levels of toxin. That
number is 1.045 micrograms of toxin per liter, says Moore.
At that time – the
beginning of August – the algae bloom, which starts in the
spring, was so invasive it could be seen on satellite in a
precarious position for the Toledo area. “It sat right on
top of our intake,” says Moore.
The tests showed that
samples from East Toledo and Point Place were much higher
than the rest of the city. Second tests were ordered by the
Ohio EPA – this time using a different type of tests. Those
results produced numbers over the 1.045 limit raising
several questions.
“The water may or may not
have been over the limit, but we felt the second test was
flawed,” recalls Moore of the dilemma for city officials.
Nevertheless, a ban was announced by Mayor D. Michael
Collins.
This time, the ELISA
(Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) test was utilized per
directions from the OHhio EPA. Levels were found to be safe
in all parts of the city, says Moore.
The results of this crisis
were not without some beneficial results, says the director.
The ELISA test has now been declared to be the standard
method of testing for the State of Ohio by the EPA. And as a
result of the back and forth, a heightened level of
communication has been established with the EPA, he adds.
What now though?
The region has allowed
algae to build in Lake Erie – the shallowest and warmest of
the Great Lakes, for decades. And although Lake Erie has
been most susceptible to the damage caused by such
microcystins, the other lakes are sure, say scientists, to
face the same problems in the future if the issues caused by
nature and human are not addressed.
Perhaps, just perhaps, the
recent crisis will galvanize politicians on a national level
– because it truly is a national problem – to work together
in a bi-partisan effort to address the crucial issues facing
America’s largest source of fresh water. |
