Toledo talk post - jun 12, 2017 - 1242

"That means it was never a LAKE problem. It was always a CITY problem. A broken water treatment plant blamed on the lake."

Yep.

This is where the local media fail at their jobs when discussing Lake Erie and drinking water today. They fail to provide context. The journalists fail to list the self-inflicted issues that caused the alleged water crisis of August 2014.

[Toledo] 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 EPA] 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.

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

During the alleged water crisis weekend, was one of the flocculators broken?

... repairing the flocculator, one of six at the plant that mixes raw water from the lake with treatment chemicals that help remove sediment and algae ...

I don't remember, but did Toledo run out of or run low on alum ahead of the alleged crisis?

Gems from Ed Moore, Toledo director of public utilities ...

August 2014 Blade story

“The algal bloom caused the issue,” Ed Moore, public utilities director for the city said. “The plant did not cause the issue.”

Oregon, Port Clinton, and Carroll Township draw their drinking water from Lake Erie, and they didn't have any problems that summer. That's because the algae bloom learned to think, and it organized itself to target Toledo's water intake crib only.

July 2015 Blade story

Public Utilities Director Ed Moore said he drinks the city’s tap water and drank it last year even during the do-not-drink advisory because he believed it was never unsafe for consumption.

That's gold.