- could go on for days
- children should not shower or bathe in the water and that it shouldn't be given to pets
- Stores in cities up to 50 miles away were reporting shortages of bottled water.
- algae growth is fed by farm fertilizer runoff
- water plants all along Lake Erie supplies drinking water for 11 million
Toledo Water Crisis UPDATE Aug 3
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - Long lines formed at water distribution centers and
store shelves were quickly emptied of bottled water after Ohio's
fourth-largest city told residents not to drink from its water supply
that was fouled by toxins possibly from algae on Lake Erie.
The warning effectively cut off the water supply to 400,000 people in Toledo, most of its suburbs and a few areas in southeastern Michigan.
Worried residents told not to drink, brush their teeth or wash dishes with the water emptied store shelves and waited hours for deliveries of bottled water from across Ohio as the governor declared a state of emergency.
Gov. John Kasich pledged that state agencies were working to bring water and other supplies to areas around Toledo while also assisting hospitals and other businesses impacted. The state also was making plans to make more deliveries if the water problem lingered, he said.
"What's more important than water? Water's about life," Kasich said. "We know it's difficult. We know it's frustrating."
The governor said it was too early to say how long the water advisory will last or what caused toxins to spike suddenly in the drinking water.
"We don't really want to speculate on this," Kasich told The Associated Press. "When it comes to this water, we've got be very careful."
Samples of water were flown to the federal and state Environmental Protection Agency offices in Cincinnati and Columbus and a university in Michigan for additional testing, officials said.
Residents waking up to the warning on Saturday morning lined up outside just about any store selling water. Some were mothers concerned about how they would make formula for their infants and other were worried about their elderly parents.
"It looked like Black Friday," said Aundrea Simmons, who stood in a line of about 50 people at a pharmacy before buying four cases of water.
Families toting empty coolers, milk jugs and even cookie jars topped them off with well water funneled out of the back of a pickup truck.
John Myers, a farmer from nearby Swanton, loaded 450 gallons of well water into a container in the back of his pickup truck and gave it out for free in a high school parking lot.
"The more you got, the more we'll fill," he told residents carrying empty containers. "I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be giving water away."
Myers said his concern was that the advisory could go on for days. "This is a lot more serious than anybody's thinking about," he said.
The warning effectively cut off the water supply to 400,000 people in Toledo, most of its suburbs and a few areas in southeastern Michigan.
Worried residents told not to drink, brush their teeth or wash dishes with the water emptied store shelves and waited hours for deliveries of bottled water from across Ohio as the governor declared a state of emergency.
Gov. John Kasich pledged that state agencies were working to bring water and other supplies to areas around Toledo while also assisting hospitals and other businesses impacted. The state also was making plans to make more deliveries if the water problem lingered, he said.
"What's more important than water? Water's about life," Kasich said. "We know it's difficult. We know it's frustrating."
The governor said it was too early to say how long the water advisory will last or what caused toxins to spike suddenly in the drinking water.
"We don't really want to speculate on this," Kasich told The Associated Press. "When it comes to this water, we've got be very careful."
Samples of water were flown to the federal and state Environmental Protection Agency offices in Cincinnati and Columbus and a university in Michigan for additional testing, officials said.
Residents waking up to the warning on Saturday morning lined up outside just about any store selling water. Some were mothers concerned about how they would make formula for their infants and other were worried about their elderly parents.
"It looked like Black Friday," said Aundrea Simmons, who stood in a line of about 50 people at a pharmacy before buying four cases of water.
Families toting empty coolers, milk jugs and even cookie jars topped them off with well water funneled out of the back of a pickup truck.
John Myers, a farmer from nearby Swanton, loaded 450 gallons of well water into a container in the back of his pickup truck and gave it out for free in a high school parking lot.
"The more you got, the more we'll fill," he told residents carrying empty containers. "I never thought I'd see the day that I'd be giving water away."
Myers said his concern was that the advisory could go on for days. "This is a lot more serious than anybody's thinking about," he said.
