Toxins in Ohio Drinking Water

Northwestern Ohio was cut off from their water supply last month due to water contamination issues. Strangely, the water contamination was thanks to Algae, because of an overabundance of phosphorous in the lake and water supply. If you didn’t know phosphorous is often produced in fertilizer and to a lesser-known extent from septic tanks.
 
Most of the cause for Ohio in particular seems to be from farmland and farming practices recently that have utilized methods that leave the fertilizer mostly in the top soil, which makes it easily washable. This meant the rivers and lakes of Ohio were over exposed to fertilizer and phosphorous thanks to this farmland run-off. Because of the exposure, it led to many bad algae also known as harmful algal blooms to grow in ample numbers throughout the water supply of Ohio.
 
It was only until this recent Monday that the people of Ohio were given the okay to drink their water again. And something like this just goes to show how important it can be to make sure a septic tank is being maintained regularly. There is a reason entire cities are willing to pay for septic tank cleaning by professionals, because if just one septic tank bursts than it can cause problems for an entire town’s water supply.
 
Although the ban of drinking water from tap in Ohio has been lifted and people are free to use their water how they wish once again, that doesn’t mean Ohio is currently safe. Other than decontaminating the water supply, nothing else was done to solve the larger issue that caused the contamination in the first place. This could mean we will be seeing Ohio without water once again before long, if enough algae builds up again from all the excess phosphorous.
 
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/08/04/toledo-ohio-water-toxin-explainer/13563805/