Jul 15 2015 tt comment

At mid-day on July 13, the City of Toledo posted a Facebook reply that contained similar info that was mentioned in yesterday's (July 14) Toledo News Now story.

From the city's July 13 Facebook reply post:

That film is from Alum in the water, it's a safe chemical that has been used to treat the water. With all the rain water passing through the Lake and the treatment plant, more alum has been added to the water to make it safe to drink. Alum is also used to make pickles and can be purchased in the grocery store.

Today, a Facebook user replied to the city's reply with:

There are many forms of "alum". Can you be more specific? Can you provide the exact composition and msds sheets on This particular compound? In large doses, it is known to be toxic.

It appears that some people began noticing the filmy water around July 10 or maybe July 6 or even in late June.

The flooding rainfall of Sat, Jun 27 may have initiated the alum increase. Or maybe the water treatment change began in mid-June. We don't know. Why don't we know?

Remember the minor panic and run on bottled water about a month ago?

Jun 19, 2015 - Toledo Talk - 2015 Algal Bloom Issue? What's the scoop?

Did the alum increase occur around that time?

The city of Toledo has failed in epic fashion to communicate this issue in a timely manner.

If this water treatment change caused problems for pets, could it have also caused problems with some people? Were area hospitals alerted to the water treatment change? Should they be alerted?

Thus far, the city of Toledo has not mentioned the alum increase and the resulting, displeasing filmy water on their Twitter feed, and worse, the city has not mentioned it on their own website. Just a Facebook comment and not its own separate post.

This spring and summer, the city gave the appearance of being more proactive with communicating what was happening with Lake Erie, water testing, etc., but obviously, the city has not learned anything from last year's classic example of what NOT to do.

If the local media had a spine and any journalistic skills, they would be verbally beating the hell out of city officials for failing to inform area residents about these allegedly minor changes to our water.

Has a follow-up explanation been provided, regarding the comments given by city officials at the end of June, following the flooding rains of June 27?

Refresher: 3 to 5 inches of rain fell over the Toledo area on June 27.

June 30 Blade story

Public Utilities Director Edward Moore said the sewer system worked well because no untreated sewage bypassed the city’s wastewater treatment plant into the Ottawa and Maumee rivers.

July 2 Blade story

[Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson] and Public Utilities Director Edward Moore said earlier this week that the city’s sewer system worked well because no untreated sewage bypassed the wastewater treatment plant to get into the Ottawa and Maumee rivers.

But the city's combined sewer overflow (CSO) data showed differently, assuming that I understood what Moore was trying to say.

Jul 2, 2015 Tom Henry (Blade) blog post

... the beating that western Lake Erie tributaries took from sewage spills in the Toledo area this June is pretty staggering, especially during last weekend's [June 27] torrential downpours. Raw, filthy toilet waste flowed into Toledo-area streams ...

A RECAP OF JUNE SEWAGE SPILLS:

• June 2015 was the fourth wettest June on record.
• Forty-nine of 106 sewage spills occurred during the last week of that month.
• June 27: Twenty-six sites spilled sewage for at least five hours, 18 spilled sewage for at least 10 hours, 10 spilled sewage for at least 15 hours, and one spilled sewage for at least 20 hours.
• June 28: Ten sites spilled sewage for at least five hours, nine spilled sewage for at least 10 hours, six spilled sewage for at least 15 hours, and one spilled sewage for nearly 22 hours. Another one spilled sewage for 24 hours.

But city officials claimed that no untreated sewage bypassed the wastewater treatment plant and spewed into the Ottawa and Maumee rivers.

I don't understand this. No follow up by the local media with city officials to reconcile these differences or to explain what we're misreading. What was Moore and the mayor trying to say two weeks ago? What am I missing?

All of this should be a red flag warning to residents who receive Toledo water.

It may not be time to panic due to what exists or does not exist on Lake Erie, but it's definitely time to prepare due to possible rampant incompetence by city of Toledo officials. And shame on the Toledo media for not shaking down city officials.

We may be better informed with Facebook rumors.

#toledo #politics #media #moronism #lakeerie #water #health