Tt post jul 30 2015

I have not studied every single local media story about drinking water, therefore maybe someone else can fill in the gaps.

The terms "microcystin" and "part per billion" get thrown around without context.

On Mon, Jul 27, Toledo detected a microcystin level of 0.5 ppb in raw Lake Erie water, which triggered a press conference by the mayor, which triggered an embarrassing late-night rush for bottled water by the citizenry.

0.5 ppb came with no context.

Bowling Green gets its drinking water from the Maumee River. In 2014, Bowling Green experienced no water crisis. Obviously, this is somewhat unrelated info, since BG's water source is different.

But I'm looking for some context.

Jul 28, 2015 WTOL story

As of Tuesday [July 28], the microcystin level in Bowling Green's raw water supply was reported as three times that of the Toledo water intake. That is 0.4 parts per billion for Toledo and 1.3 parts per billion for BG.

Last year Bowling Green was not part of the crisis, as they get their water from an intake in the Maumee River. They also have a different water treatment process than Toledo.

"Regardless of what level the algae has been detected at, we've always had a "non-detect" for the microcystin toxin in our finished water that goes to the customers," said O'Connell.

In my opinion, we should see the microcystin levels from past summers for Lake Erie. Where's the data for 2011? Has this data been published for comparison to now?

Here are a couple examples of the local media providing some context. Finally.

Jul 29, 2015 13abc story about Port Clinton, which also gets its drinking water from Lake Erie. Its intake crib is only 1800 feet from shore. In 2014, PC had not water crisis issues.

This week, PC detected a microcystin level of 1.7 ppb in raw Lake Erie water.

So this week's peak microcystin levels:

1. Port Clinton = 1.7 ppb
2. Bowling Green = 1.3 ppb
3. Toledo = 1.0 ppb

But how do those numbers compare to previous years?

More from the Jul 29 13abc story about Port Clinton:

James Frey, the county's sanitary engineer says, "In the water, last year, we've had over 50 parts per billion."

But yet, Ottawa County has been able to keep tap water clean. Frey says, "We never had detection in our drinking water at all."