Leaders see big water battles

Published: Sunday, 8/17/2014 - Updated: 27 seconds ago

BY TOM HENRY BLADE STAFF WRITER

Toledo faces a quandary in the aftermath of its historic water crisis: Does it focus on reducing the threat of toxic microcystis algae, which temporarily made the tap water for 500,000 Metro Toledo residents unsafe to drink?

Or, does it turn up the heat on state and federal lawmakers whom city leaders accuse of taking too much of a business-as-usual approach and delaying overdue improvements to water-treatment plants in Toledo and across the country?

Toledo officials are wrestling with those decisions now, knowing that whatever they decide will likely cost one of Americas most cash-strapped cities one ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau just a few years ago as the nations eighth most impoverished millions of dollars it doesnt have.

Theyre inextricably linked issues, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Craig Butler told The Blade following a news conference at a Perrysburg Township farm on Thursday. They go part-in-parcel, hand in hand.

RELATED: Chemical increased in water after testing came close to dangerous level

RELATED: Read previous stories on the water crisis in Toledo

COMMENTARY:What we need to save Lake Erie is action right now

Throughout the drinking water crisis the first weekend of August, Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins sounded more like an environmentalist than the mayor of a Rust Belt city trying to attract industry.

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Leaders see big water battles