Lake Erie 'Wake-Up Call' Buoys Conservationists
Conservation groups are hoping the calamity of this past weekend’s water contamination in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan serves as a wake-up call to address the problems posed by algae in Lake Erie and what contributes to it.
Algae contamination of the drinking water has happened before and is likely to happen again, experts say. But it’s a problem that might have been prevented if steps were taken that have been under consideration for years.
City of Toledo officials lifted Monday a three-day ban on drinking water from Lake Erie. Water contaminated by toxic algae had been detected in the areas of East Toledo and Point Place communities. The ban affected 400,000 Ohio residents as well as another 30,000 residents in Monroe.
Scientists have been anticipating the day when toxic algae would appear in the drinking water supplies of residential communities along Lake Erie’s western shore. For many of them, the weekend alarms that went off when water testing showed contamination were hardly a surprise.
“Personally, I think this is a wake-up call,” said Christine Mayer, a professor of environmental science who works at the University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center. “This is a time when our decision-makers and our society need to evaluate whether it’s time to help move forward with regulation of the factors that contribute to the algal blooms.”
From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140805/METRO06/308050024#ixzz39UkxfVS1
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