Early Saturday, August 2, city officials in Toledo, Ohio, told about 400,000 residents to stop using their tap water because toxins created by algae in Lake Erie were found at a water treatment plant. This latest water emergency comes just seven months after drinking water contaminated by a chemical used to clean coal forced 300,000 residents of Charleston, West Virginia, to stop using their water.
Andrew J. Whelton, Ph.D., is environmental engineering assistant professor of at University of South Alabama (ajwhelton@gmail.com). He and his students have been intimately involved in the West Virginia water crisis since January 2014. Learn more at www.southce.org/ajwhelton. Rahul Gupta, M.D., is the executive director of the Kanawha-Charleston health department and a faculty member at West Virginia University and the University of Charleston.