Aquagedon 2014: The water is poison!

[Fritzo]

So I woke up to this this morning:

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/toledo-issues-do-not-drink-advisory-tap-water-n171236

Can't drink the water in the entire county and several surrounding counties, and nobody knows how long it's going to last. Had to round around at 7am trying to find a source of water. Finally ended up driving 90 minutes away to get to an unaffected area and bought a bunch from Sam's Club.

My weekend has turned into The Grapes of Wrath.
"I'm gonna head out Californee way. I hear there's water in them parts..."

 

[Jodell88]

/thirdworldproblems

oh wait...

Seriously though, that sucks.

 

[PenguinPower]

I think I've had about 130oz of water so far today...you want some?

 

[brianmanahan]

lol, i went to sams club tonight in the cleveland area and a buttload of people from toledo were there buying water

did you go east?

 

[crashtech]

Residents were warned not to drink tap water even after boiling because that could increase the toxin's concentration.

For something biological and not manmade, that's pretty scary.

 

[Fritzo]

lol, i went to sams club tonight in the cleveland area and a buttload of people from toledo were there buying water

did you go east?

Yeah, we went to Sandusky.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Amazing how we take clean water for granted and what a major bitch it becomes when you can't just turn a tap and get all you want.

 

[Fritzo]

Amazing how we take clean water for granted and what a major bitch it becomes when you can't just turn a tap and get all you want.

Tell me about it. I just contaminated awhile quart of strawberries because I accidentally washed them off in the sink.

 

[Ruptga]

Tell me about it. I just contaminated awhile quart of strawberries because I accidentally washed them off in the sink.

Pee on them, it will sterilize them. Or is that only for face wounds?

Anyway, just do like the olden days and drink beer instead of water.

 

[destrekor]

Yeah, this sucks.

 

[brianmanahan]

honestly i read the articles about this, and it doesn't sound that dangerous

if it happens here i will just keep drinking the water

 

[Jeff7]

:hmm:
Hopefully the algae stays over there on the west side of Lake Erie, or maybe it would at least be so courteous as to stop poisoning the damn water already.







We do an adequate job of that ourselves, thank you very much.

 

[SirStev0]

I went through the West Virginia water crisis this year. At first it was ridiculous, then a little scary, then a joke, then about 3 weeks of just being a huge pain in the ass.


We just up and left and went to Pittsburgh for the first weekend.

We couldn't shower or anything for a while. 2 months later water was still scarce at the grocery store.

 

[Pocatello]

That is a nightmare.

 

[ViRGE]

honestly i read the articles about this, and it doesn't sound that dangerous

if it happens here i will just keep drinking the water

Cyanotoxins are a very big deal. They are a highly potent toxin that can't be boiled out of water, and in fact they're nearly impossible to treat for at all.

 

[gorobei]

plenty of homemade distilling options
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxMRpql7Ook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTW7BS7tV8k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00kKPOs_FA4

 

[ControlD]

But hey, let's keep dumping metric tons of fertilizers on the fields and keep ignoring the fact that insane amounts of phosphates are draining into Lake Erie from the rivers flowing through NW Ohio / SE Michigan / NE Indiana (which are all going through nothing but mile after mile of corn farms for the most part).

We actually have a very similar issue year after year about 100 miles south in a mud hole called Grand Lake Saint Mary's. Shallow water + farm runoff + warm temperatures = blue-green algae blooms. Yet nobody will begin to address a root cause.

 

[brianmanahan]

Cyanotoxins are a very big deal. They are a highly potent toxin that can't be boiled out of water, and in fact they're nearly impossible to treat for at all.

but they only started testing for them very recently. what did people do before the tests? probably just drank the water, and were fine.

 

[Fritzo]

honestly i read the articles about this, and it doesn't sound that dangerous

if it happens here i will just keep drinking the water

Yeah, what's a little liver damage, intestinal distress, and diarrhea. Sissies.

 

[Fritzo]

but they only started testing for them very recently. what did people do before the tests? probably just drank the water, and were fine.

They called it a flu bug because they didn't know what was getting them sick.

 

[ControlD]

but they only started testing for them very recently. what did people do before the tests? probably just drank the water, and were fine.

Lake Erie did not have these huge microcycstis blooms until fairly recently (they have been growing in intensity since sometime in the mid 1990's). People were aware of them, but they might not have been aware of the health risks at the time. I imagine the concentration levels are also a factor, and they have been rather high in the last two years compared to years past.

 

[Fritzo]

Lake Erie did not have these huge microcycstis blooms until fairly recently (they have been growing in intensity since sometime in the mid 1990's). People were aware of them, but they might not have been aware of the health risks at the time. I imagine the concentration levels are also a factor, and they have been rather high in the last two years compared to years past.

Advances in fertilizers look to be the main cause. The runoff into the lake is the trigger. We've never had anything like this before.

Day 2: they're reporting the levels are falling. They're not sure if the whole water system has to be flushed or not. I'm letting people take water from my pool to boil and wash dishes if needed.

 

[lxskllr]

I'm letting people take water from my pool to boil and wash dishes if needed.

I'm confused. Is this a first world, or third world problem? :^D

 

[allisolm]

I'm letting people take water from my pool to boil and wash dishes if needed.

I'm confused. Is this a first world, or third world problem? :^D

Exactly. :biggrin:


Your Toledo area water problem even made the news in Tallahassee (Don't know whether that is a good thing or not. )

 

[Fritzo]

Exactly. :biggrin:


Your Toledo area water problem even made the news in Tallahassee (Don't know whether that is a good thing or not. )

Don't worry...I'm requiring the drive their Land Rover up to the pool to fill their containers. Not like I'm going to carry it for them

Anyway, this problem is going to become more wide spread as more fertilizers leak into water supplies. Our unique geography just made us the first this has happened to.