If you’re a kayaker, swimmer, fisherman, etc. who is anticipating utilizing the waterways this season, you might want to rethink where you climb in. According to the Toledo Waterways Initiative, as of this May, faulty pipes and heavy rain combined to dump 135 MILLION GALLONS of RAW SEWAGE into the waterways. The biggest overflows have been into the Maumee River at Nevada St., the Ottawa River at Lagrange St. and Swan Creek at Hamilton and Erie Sts. To combat the issue, the TWI is building a seven million gallon rainwater runoff reservoir just past The Docks at International Park. Hmm, somehow those numbers don’t offset…
BGSU researchers have advanced a theory in a new study that suggests a virus might be to blame for shutting down the area’s water supply in 2014. Tests suggested a new strain of microcystis, the bacteria found in algal blooms, containing the virus leached out of the blooms and into the area’s water reservoirs. This virus only impacts bacteria and does not infect humans, but it was enough to cause a water crisis that left a half million people without clean water for two days.
If you’re curious about where Mayor Hicks-Hudson stands on the recent Lake Erie efforts, don’t worry, we asked her. She said: “What I support is having a [Presidential] Executive Order that pulls in the Dept. of Agriculture, the Canadian treaty folks, Indiana, Michigan, and (the) U.S. EPA to provide a plan for us to be able to address the issue of Lake Erie. I applaud the work the advocates are doing, it’s not that I don’t support it, I believe that [the lawsuit] is not enough. I think that what needs to happen is just go to the top. We need to get the President who appoints the US EPA, who is able to make treaties, to work for us, that’s where we need to keep pushing our efforts – though everyone should be pushing.”
Want to learn exactly how Lake Erie is being impacted by farm runoff? Attend the Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie’s program The Third Battle for Lake Erie: 6:30pm. Thursday, June 15. Toledo Lucas County Public Library King Rd. Branch, 3900 King Rd., 419-259-5380.
The ACLE will also host a meeting with speaker Earl Campbell, Jr. M.D., Emeritus Professor of Medicine at UTMC, about the Poisons in Our Water, detailing how your health can be affected by exposure to contaminated water. 6:30pm. Wednesday, June 21. Grace Lutheran Church, 4441 Monroe St., advocatesforacleanlakeerie.org
Has the Ohio Department of Agriculture been issuing invalid CAFO permits? The ACLE claims the U.S. EPA never authorized the ODA to issue more than 200 permits since 2002. Former Governor Bob Taft signed Ohio Senate Bill 141.
Stay tuned…
