Blue-green algae from a similar water crisis in China. Microcystin toxin (currently poisoning Toledo’s water) is a product of an abundance of this appetizing stuff – which uses nutrients like phosphorus to grow.
“…the increased presence of nutrients such as phosphorous is largely due to poor farming practices…as well as effluent and run-off from towns and cities near waterways.”
-NOAA Center of Excellence for Great Lakes and Human Health (CEGLHH)
So you live in a city without water.
You’re rationing sips of H2O like the end times are upon us, and everyone’s starting to smell pretty damn funky (sure, they say you can shower as long as you don’t get the water in any orifices or cuts, but screw that. I’m no daredevil).
What is there to do? You can’t wash the dishes that are piling up in the kitchen. You can’t do the laundry or take the kids swimming. Can’t even go out to eat – because boiling this poisonous sludge somehow makes the situation worse, and every restaurant in the city is closed.
So, while you’re adjusting to your new post-apocalyptic lifestyle, maybe you could take a few minutes to call and/or email your local congressmen.
Tell them they better either distribute bottled water outside random high schools for the rest of eternity, or pass a few $%&(@! environmental-protection bills so we can go back to life as it once was.
Oh look, I found a list of every Ohio representative by county and their phone numbers:
http://www.ohiohouse.gov/members/member-by-county
(If you click on a person’s name, you are taken to their personal page which just so happens to provide their email address also)
OMG, and here is the list of every Ohio state senator and THEIR contact information:
http://www.ohiosenate.gov/senate/members/senate-directory
Not the type of person who normally calls their congressmen?
You’re also not the type of person who normally stands in line for three hours waiting for someone to drive up from Columbus with a few ounces of that thing that gives you life.
Don’t live in Toledo? Do you want this happening in your city? Call your congressman already!
EDIT: Please be polite when you call your congressmen. The poor interns you’re talking to didn’t cause our water woes.
ofamoderation 