Ohio city detects toxins in Lake Erie that led to 2014 water crisis; mayor says water safe

Toledo has detected the first signs in Lake Erie of the dangerous toxin that resulted in a water crisis last year.

Toledo Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson says the city's drinking water remains safe but she has updated the status of the water to a "Watch" category.

The Blade reports (http://bit.ly/1MsT8Ef) Hicks-Hudson and city officials announced late Monday that the intake mechanisms that draw Toledo's drinking water from Lake Erie detected a toxin that can cause liver and kidney damage.

The water crisis in Toledo last August left 400,000 people in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan without safe tap water for two days.

A severe toxic algae outbreak on the lake's western end was forecast after heavy rains in June washed huge amounts of algae-feeding phosphorus into the lake.

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Information from: The Blade, http://www.toledoblade.com/