Fremont’s water is fine, official reports

FREMONT – The city’s drinking water supply remains safe and Fremont has not experienced any of the algal blooms, microcystin problems or potential water quality issues like those in the Toledo area, the city’s safety service director said Tuesday.

Safety Service Director Bob Ward said the city treats its reservoir with chemicals daily and had not experienced any of the concerns seen in other regional cities or neighboring areas.

Ottawa County reported on Tuesday that it had seen heightened microcystin levels three times as high as the Toledo area but that the county’s plant is able to treat the water and make it safe.

But Fremont has had no issues with toxins, Ward said.

“As far as I know, we have had no problems,” he said.

Water treatment plant Superintendent Steve Lamale could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Fremont Mayor Jim Ellis said in August 2014 that the city had not seen any algae issues on its reservoir.

According to the city’s water department, the Fremont reservoir is filled with water from the Sandusky River.

The city built the reservoir to avoid nitrate contamination in drinking water after the river tested positive at times for high nitrate levels. Nitrates can come from fertilizer runoff and sewer plants.

If nitrate levels on the river are high, the city does not draw any water from the river into the reservoir, Ward said. If there were a harmful algal bloom, it also would stop drawing river water.

The city treats the reservoir with chemicals, which Ellis said in 2014 are not harmful, to avoid growth of harmful algae and other problems.

A message posted Tuesday on the city of Toledo’s water quality website declared that the city’s water is safe to drink. Microcystin has been detected in the city’s intake crib in Lake Erie but not in the tap water. The city’s water treatment process is effectively removing the microcystin, according to the posting.

Steve Shiets, the county’s sanitary engineer, said Sandusky County maintains a very small water system that does not draw directly from the lake and chlorinates the water.

“We won’t be influenced by the algae blooms,” Shiets said.

He said there were no issues with any drinking water maintained by the county.

In Bay Township, James “Kelly” Frey, sanitary engineer for Ottawa County, said the plant had an intake of 1.7 parts per billion on Tuesday afternoon, which he said was “a little higher” than Toledo.

Toledo changed its water quality status from “clear” to “watch” on Monday after microcystin was detected in the city’s water intake at a level of 0.55 parts per billion.

Blue-green algal blooms on Lake Erie have raised concerns on water-quality around northwestern Ohio after experts predicted “severe” blooms this summer containing microcystin-LR, a dangerous toxin that can cause liver and kidney damage.

A year ago, from Aug. 2 to 4, Toledo’s water was deemed undrinkable when the microcystin toxin fouled the water at the city’s treatment plant, leaving more than 400,000 people without usable water. When microcystin is above acceptable levels, the water is unsafe to consume and boiling only makes the toxin worse.

Frey said that, although there is “significant concern” over microcystin levels for Ottawa County, everything was “easily treatable” for the time being.

“We are treating it. We’re confident that, at this point, we’re able to do that,” Frey said. “It’s costly, but we can still do it.”

Frey said the Ottawa County plant meets all Environmental Protection Agency guidelines for drinking water, but he is concerned about August and September, when the algal blooms in Lake Erie are likely to pose a greater threat to water sources.

“We absolutely have concerns,” Frey said. “Anyone who has been around the lake should be concerned.”

dacarson@gannett.com

419-334-1046

Twitter: @DanielCarson7