TOXIC BLOB SPREADING ACROSS LAKE ERIE, COULD PUT CLEVELAND’S DRINKING WATER AT RISK

[10/19/16] Ohio governmental officials will be releasing an updated report about a two-square-mile toxic blob at the bottom of Lake Erie that might be spreading perilously close to a water intake pipe that supplies drinking water for the city of Cleveland.

According to The Plain Dealer, the new report is expected for release later this fall and is based on new tests taken nearby a section of the lake bottom known as Area-1, located about nine miles off the coast. Prior Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) tests of the tainted plot from 2014 and 2015 revealed levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) that were much higher than elsewhere in Lake Erie. These highly toxic chemicals can harm or kill aquatic life and can cause cancer in humans.

Lake Erie’s toxic blob is the result of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ dumping of dredged and untreated sludge from the polluted Cuyahoga River shipping channel in the 1970s. The disposal took place before the Clean Water Act of 1972 was enacted.

The mass is located about five miles from an intake valve for the Nottingham Water Treatment Plant, which supplies drinking water to parts of Cuyahoga County—Ohio’s most populous county. It is unclear how fast the blob is moving or if it will actually reach the pipe……More Here

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TOXIC BLOB SPREADING ACROSS LAKE ERIE, COULD PUT CLEVELAND’S DRINKING WATER AT RISK