Toledo mayor: U.S. must focus on water quality
Source: Associated Press
Toledo mayor: U.S. must focus on water quality
Hope Yen, Associated Press 6:47 a.m. EST December 4, 2014
Washington — The mayor of Toledo, Ohio, called Wednesday for the federal government to devote full attention to improving water quality in America’s lakes and rivers, describing the toxic algae blooms that tainted his city’s water supply this summer as a danger “doomed to be repeated.”
Mayor Michael Collins appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee for the first time after microcystin toxins in Lake Erie fouled the tap water for 400,000 people in Ohio and Michigan for two days in August.
He said the “full force” of the governments of the United States and Canada, along the level of an executive order, is needed to address what he described as an international problem. More than 80 percent of the water in Lake Erie comes from the upper Great Lakes via the Detroit River, which helps form the U.S.-Canadian border.
“Don’t give this lip service. It’s a canary in the coal mine,” Collins said. “If we forget what happened in Toledo, it is doomed to be repeated.”
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Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/nation/2014/12/03/congress-toledo-water/19841839/
