Calling the public hypersensitive, Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson said the city would resume testing raw Lake Erie water daily for the presence of microcystin — a reversal from the previous day when city officials said the test would be preformed only weekly.
“The one test we said we would not continue was the ELISA test, which is one that is over and above, and that is one that is required weekly,” the mayor said. “But each and every day we are testing the water. We are testing for over 650 different allergens or whatever in the water to make sure the water quality is [good].”
The mayor said she ordered city chemists Thursday to perform the additional test that detects microcystin levels out of an abundance of caution and to appease the community. That test costs the city $500 each time, officials said.
Mayor Hicks-Hudson said she did that “because of the hypersensitivity of our community [and] to let them know at no time were we putting anyone at risk.”
Tests showed the raw water Wednesday afternoon contained 1.0 parts per billion of microcystin. That was up from 0.5 ppb Monday and 0.4 ppb Tuesday.
The test performed Thursday showed the level at 0.5 ppb, city spokesman Stacy Weber said.
The tests have not detected any microcystin in the city’s treated drinking water this week and officials stressed that the water remains safe to drink.
The mayor said the Ohio Environmental Protection agency requires that testing only weekly and that the tests were run Monday and Tuesday because the department of public utilities wanted to get familiar with recently purchased equipment.
The testing from those two days, which detected the microcystin levels in the lake water for the first time this year, was performed to get employees “certified” on a new testing machine, she said. “That’s how we learned the microcystin was increased.”
After that happenstance detection Monday, Mayor Hicks-Hudson hastily called a news conference that night and changed Toledo’s water quality status from “clear” to “watch” on the city’s online water-quality dashboard. That then set off a rush of bottled-water purchases throughout the city that emptied shelves at many stores.
Mayor Hicks-Hudson acknowledged that people are “nervous and afraid and are panicking.”
The machine the mayor referred to was a $24,500 auto analyzer for enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests purchased to automate some water-quality testing related to microcystin.
Otherwise, the city was collecting samples daily but testing only on Wednesdays.
The city’s water supply was rendered undrinkable Aug. 2-4 last year when the toxin contaminated the water at the treatment plant.
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.
Even at 1.0 parts per billion, the concentration of toxic microcystin in raw lake water is so small that water-treatment plant operators shouldn’t have a problem neutralizing it, according to Doug Wagner, superintendent of the city of Oregon’s water-treatment plant.
The U.S. EPA in May said it is acceptable for people school-age and older to drink tap water with up to 1.6 parts per billion of microcystin in it. The limit for infants and children younger than 6 years old, pregnant women, nursing mothers, people with liver conditions, and those on dialysis is 0.3 part per billion.
Lindsay Webb, chairman of council’s public utilities committee, said she was pleased the mayor ordered the testing to be performed daily.
“I am glad she heard the concerns I raised with her,” Ms. Webb said. “Based on what I have heard from the community it is the right move.”
Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.
First Published July 31, 2015, 4:00 a.m.