Tt post jul 28 2015

"Here's the secret: They have alum this year, the mixy stick is not broken, and they know we are watching."

On Aug 19, 2014, justread wrote :

We know (Thanks to the required EPA disclosure that just came in our most recent water bills) that your staff at the Collins Park plant RAN OUT of Alum and had to come up with a protocol to make sure that it wouldn't happen again.

After the alleged crisis ended last year, we learned that one flocculator was broken, during the crisis weekend.

A brief description about the water treatment process:

• Water treatment begins 6 to 12 hours before water reaches the plant.
• Toledo's intake crib is located about three miles off the shoreline in Jerusalem Township east of Oregon.
• Raw Lake Erie water is drawn into the intake crib.
• Potassium permanganate is added to raw water, which combats algae a little, but it's mostly used for taste and odor.
• Potassium permanganate is also used to keep quagga mussels from clogging the intake. Quagga mussels are the exotic successor to zebra mussels.
• The water arrives at the low-service pump station a half-mile south of the shoreline.
• Powdered activated carbon is then added.
• When the water arrives at the treatment plant in East Toledo, operators add alum.
• The alum forces algae particles to bind together, making them easier to separate from the water.
• That separation process begins in the flocculation basin, where the water is gently stirred.
• The stirring has to be gentle so the algal clumps don’t break apart and become dispersed back into the water column.
• Lime is added to soften the water.
• Soda ash is used to counteract alum when there’s excessive algae and a need for more alum.
• As the water completes three passes in the flocculation basin, with particles settling out, carbon dioxide is added to complete the softening process.
• Then the water passes through a series of filters.
• Chlorine is added throughout the treatment process to kill bacteria and any residual algae toxins.
• Sodium chloride and fluoride are added near the end of the treatment process.
• Fluoride helps prevent tooth decay.
• Polyphosphate is added to help protect copper pipes.
• The finished water is distributed to the public from the enormous force of high-service pumps that are wider and taller than many two-car garages.

It does appear that alum and flocculation are important to treating our water.

More from the Aug 17, 2014 Blade story:

The controversy about the water plant’s status isn’t about the fundamental method Toledo uses to treat water, but the condition of its parts and the overall aging of the 73-year-old facility

Two months before last year's crisis, the EPA warned Toledo about our treatment facility problems.

Aug 7, 2014 - Toledo Blade - Ohio EPA warned Toledo of ‘imminent vulnerability’ - Collins told in June of likelihood of dire water problems

After that story, Ed Moore, Toledo's public utilities director, said:

“The algal bloom caused the issue. The plant did not cause the issue.”

That's the same person who earlier this month appeared to say that no raw sewage entered our waterways during and after the Sat, Jun 27, 2015 flooding rainfall. Yet :

South Toledo had one outlet that spilled untreated toilet waste into Swan Creek, a Maumee River tributary, for 24 consecutive hours on Sunday [June 28].

Actually, Toledo was warned or notified by the EPA about our treatment facility issues in February of 2014 and as far back as January 2013.

Craig W. Butler, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ...

Butler wrote that the city remained in regulatory violation by having failed to correct problems with the plant’s sedimentation vent and alum system, which were cited for “significant deficiencies” in a Feb. 6 [2014] notice.

There were other EPA letters sent to the city, dating back to January 2013, that discussed deficiencies and potential failures in Toledo’s water system.

In the opening paragraph of the June 9 [2014] letter to Collins, the EPA chief said he was concerned about the lack of progress being made to improve the city's public water system, in particular the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.

Butler said the plant “is vulnerable to potential failures that could impact the city’s ability to provide adequate quantities of safe water to citizens.”

For last year's alleged water crisis, the plant did not cause the issue. The algal bloom did not cause the issue. Toledo's incompetence caused the issue.

"There were other EPA letters sent to the city, dating back to January 2013, that discussed deficiencies and potential failures in Toledo’s water system."