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[Bob Of Burleson]

Ohio Water Crisis a Warning for Texas, Other States

by Neena Satija
The Texas Tribune

The harmful toxin found in Lake Erie that caused a water crisis in Ohio's fourth-largest city this weekend has raised concerns nationally. That's because no states — including Texas — require testing for such toxins, which are caused by algal blooms. And there are no federal or state standards for acceptable levels of the toxins, even though they can be lethal.

In Toledo, Ohio, where voluntary tests at a water treatment plant found elevated levels of the toxin microcystin, which is produced by blue-green algae, the city is urging residents and the several hundred thousand people served by its water utility not to drink tap water, even if they boil it. Exposure to high levels of microcystin can cause abdominal pain, vomiting and diarrhea, liver inflammation, pneumonia and other symptoms, some of which are life-threatening. Restaurants have closed and there are shortages of bottled water as far as 100 miles away.

In Texas, which has battled blue-green algae problems at several of its lakes, Terry Clawson, the spokesman for the state's Commission on Environmental Quality, said surface water data has "not demonstrated levels of algal toxins that show any cause for alarm."

But he said the agency "considers it important to continue screening available data to determine if additional monitoring and evaluations are needed,​" and is screening "selected reservoirs" for blue-green algae and microcystin. It is also waiting to review data collected over several years by the U.S. Geological Survey on many different Texas lakes.

The crisis in Ohio is likely to prompt policy changes there. That's because algal blooms are becoming increasingly common in Lake Erie, the water supply for 11 million people living around the Great Lakes.

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