By Todd Neeley
DTN Staff Reporter
OMAHA (DTN) -- During the summer of 2014, a massive algae bloom in Lake Erie forced more than 400,000 residents of Toledo, Ohio, to temporarily avoid using city water after dangerous levels of toxins showed up in tests at one treatment plant. The state of Ohio hopes to prevent that from happening again, announcing Wednesday it will issue new rules in January designed to help secure water supplies.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said in a public notice the state intends to propose rules to establish monitoring and reporting of harmful algal blooms in public water systems, as well as amendments to laboratory certification rules.
According to the notice, the state's proposal will create new and amended rules in a number of categories.
The state will establish action levels for microcystins and set cyanobacteria screening and microcystins monitoring and reporting requirements for surface water public water systems. Microcystins are toxins produced by cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria are also known as blue-green algae and can be found in surface water when conditions are favorable for growth and formation of algal blooms, according the Environmental Protection Agency's website.
In addition, the state intends to require increased monitoring based on detections of microcystins at levels higher than 5 micrograms per liter in raw water or exceedances of action levels in drinking water.
The proposal will require public water systems to submit written cyanotoxin treatment optimization protocols if microcystins are detected in raw or finished drinking water. In addition, public water systems may be required to submit cyanotoxin general plans with one or a combination of source water protection activities, reservoir management and in-plant treatment technologies.
The state intends to require public notification in cases of monitoring violations and exceedances of action levels in drinking water, as well as consumer confidence reports.
The notice gives no details about how the proposed rules will affect agriculture.
In April 2015, an Ohio Farm Bureau report said the state's producers have been serious about conservation for decades. OFB representatives said in a news conference, however, they realized their members will have to intensify efforts in order to improve water quality.
The Ohio Farm Bureau created a water quality action plan since the Toledo algae bloom. That plan includes committing $1 million in OFB member funds toward water quality efforts.
In addition, the organization will encourage farmers in the western Lake Erie basin to complete fertilizer application certification two years ahead of what state law requires and to complete nutrient management plans.
The Ohio Farm Bureau told DTN/Progressive Farmer it intends to hire new staff with the sole purpose of helping farmers improve water quality. In addition, the OFB's water-quality action plan will create demonstration farms to showcase new farming techniques that help improve water quality. The group also said it planned to increase its commitment to Healthy Water Ohio, which is a statewide coalition of water and environmental interests.
In the water quality status report, OFB said it continues to support financially and otherwise a variety of efforts to reduce nutrients runoff in the west basin of Lake Erie. The group, along with Ohio State University and others, is funding a project designed to help farmers in the basin establish nutrient management plans.
In addition, OFB planned to commit additional funding to support OSU's edge-of-field study to measure phosphorus levels from farms and to help identify water quality and conservation practices that can help reduce runoff across the state. Already hundreds of thousands of acres across Ohio have been voluntarily enrolled in conservation programs, including filter strips, no till and reduced till.
At the federal level, officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have told members of Congress the science is not well-established on what would be considered safe levels of cyanobacteria in drinking water.
Read more about the proposed rule here: http://tinyurl.com/…
Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com
Follow him on Twitter @ToddNeeleyDTN
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