Seewer, J. (2014, September 7). States Struggle to Keep Drinking Water Clean; Many Look for Help From EPA. Politics: The Washington Post.
Retrieved September 7, 2014 from
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/states-struggle-to-keep-drinking-water-clean-many-look-for-help-from-epa/2014/09/07/fb26abc8-36c5-11e4-8601-97ba88884ffd_story.html
A few states are having trouble providing safe and lean drinking water for their residents. Lake Erie has been exposed to algae, which ruined the drinking water for about 400,000 people in the Toledo area. Engineers are struggling to find solutions, as there are no federal standards on algae infected water nor are there instructions for fixing the problem. Engineers admit to searching Google for answers. This incident left people in the Great Lakes area without clean water for two days in August 2014. An outcry has arisen, as people are demanding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to provide a national standard for safe amounts of microcystin (the toxin that contaminated the Toledo water). Environmental representatives from Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan met with EPA officials this past month.
This article made me realize how something so small can have such a big impact. Algae contaminating water forced people to line up for water. That reminded me of people having to go to the local well for water back before we had tap water. It was also a bit concerning that the water quality engineers were “Googling for answers” and spending “nights on the Internet trying to find how other places manage it.”
It’s surprising how so many people lack easy access to clean drinking water. The fact that 400,000 people suffered due to the contamination of one water source is concerning. However, why is it that the algae contaminated the water to the point where it was undrinkable? How can we prevent a similar incident from happening in the future?