Holy Toledo! This Nasty Lake Erie Algae Bloom is the Likely Source of the Toxin Causing Your Drinking Water Woes

An algae bloom in the western part of Lake Erie just offshore of Toledo, Ohio is visible in this image captured today (Aug. 3) by NASA's Terra satellite. Do you see it? The green slime at the western end of Lake Erie in the satellite image above? That could be the source of the toxins that have caused the city of Toledo, Ohio to impose a drinking water ban affecting 500,000 people. The ban continued today, as further testing revealed evidence of the toxin microcystin in a drinking water plant. Microcystin is produced by blooms of cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae. In the image from NASA's Terra satellite above, a widespread bloom is evident; whether it contains the the cyanobacteria that produce microcystin I can't say for sure. But I'd put money on it. I didn't want to say this in the headline, because I didn't want to seem sensationalistic: Mycrocystin-LR, which is commonly produced by cyanobacteria blooms, is actually more toxic than sodium cyanide. So no wonder Toledo imposed the drinking water ban! According to an "urgent water notice" from the city: