Defiance, OH drinking water switched to reservoir, concerns about toxin in Maumee River from Algal Bloom
The Defiance Co. General Health District is advising people to stay out of the water at the Maumee River after sample site tests high for harmful algal bloom as reported by WTOL Toledo staff on June 4, 2016.
Due to one sample from the site on the Maumee River testing high, Defiance City and County officials have issued a recreational public health advisory.The health district was notified by the Ohio Department of Health Friday, that a harmful algal bloom was detected on the Maumee River, near the water treatment plant.According to Adam McDowell, superintendent of the Defiance water treatment plant, testing was done on Thursday and indicated 19 parts per billion of Microcystin in the water.
“The drinking water supply is safe. Water is currently being drawn out of the reservoir, not the river. Water from the reservoir has been tested and has safe levels,” said Adam McDowell of the Defiance City Water Treatment Plant.
CAFO waste is one of the primary sources of dissolved phosphorus, the pollution that feeds algal blooms.(For more information on dissolved Phosphorus see this discussion from Heidelberg University: Dissolved Phosphorus)
To understand the watershed that feeds the public drinking water for Defiance, Ohio, zoom in on the map, linked below. The Michigan CAFOs that are located in the Maumee watershed are in the headwaters of the Maumee River: Bean Creek/Tiffin River, enters Maumee at Defiance. Notice all the CAFO-rich areas feeding right into the confluences at Defiance.
Source: Less=More, Follow the Manure: Factory Farms and the Lake Erie Algal Crisis