Lake Erie Toxins Leave Southeast Michigan, Ohio Residents Without Water

A toxic algae blooms on Lake Erie that caused a water emergency in Toledo, Ohio is also affecting about 11,575 residents in four southeast Michigan communities in Monroe County – Bedford, La Salle, Erie and Luna Pier.

The emergency does not affect customers of Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, the Detroit Free Press reports.

The southeast Michigan communities and about 500,000 northwest Ohio residents get their water from the Collin Park Water Treatment Plant in Toledo, through the South County Water Agreement, WXYZ, Channel 7, reports.

According to tests, the water has high amounts of microcystin, a cyanotoxin that, when ingested, can cause abnormal liver function, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, numbness, dizziness. Skin rashes and other irritations can occur.

The affected residents have been told not to drink the water, bathe in it or give it to pets. Boiling water exacerbates the problem, and water filtration systems, such as Brita, do not remove the contamination.

» TELL US: What should be done to protect the Great Lakes from toxic algae blooms?

In Monroe County, water distribution sites have been established.

Algae blooms are the result of nitrogen and phosphorous entering streams and lakes from over-fertilized agricultural land and lawns; erosion from river banks; deforestation and land clearing; livestock confinements and pens; and sewage effluent from malfunctioning septic and sewer systems.

In Ohio, Gov. John Kasich declared a state of emergency that will allow the state to bring water into the the city.

Store shelves are empty after a run on bottled water, and now Toledo residents are crossing into Michigan to buy water, WWJ/the Associated Press reports.

Monroe County is also out of bottled water.

“I’m all the way in Taylor, Michigan right now,” Tracey Rhodes of Toledo told WWJ’s Beth Fisher around 8 a.m. Saturday “Everything close to Toledo, everything is sold out. I already hit Monroe and Monroe is sold out of bottled water.”

It’s not known how long the water emergency will last, and Rhodes was stocking up.

The situation is a wake-up call, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, said, according to a story in The Pittsburgh Globe Gazette.

“We do have a problem with these toxic algal blooms,” he said after a meeting with officials to discuss the emergency Saturday.

Toledo officials became suspicious late Friday that algae toxins, which started appearing in treatable levels in early July, were reaching levels that would make the water unsafe for human or animal consumption, The Toledo Blade reports.

Lake Erie supplies drinking water for 11 million people, and water plant operators have been concerned for several years that such an emergency could occur.

A similar situation occurred last year when a township east of Toledo ordered 2,000 residents not to drink water from their taps because of a high amount of toxins.

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PHOTO: A water emergency due to a toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie caused a run on bottled water in Ohio and four southeast Michigan communities. (Patch file photo)