State of Emergency Declared in Ohio amid Major Health Threat

WATER CONTAMINATION
SCENARIOS 797, 05
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Toxins Contaminate Toledo Water

Toxins, either from algae formed on Lake Erie or released during fracking, have contaminated the water supply of Toledo, Ohio’s fourth-largest city, forcing the governor to declare a state of emergency and the officials to warn residents not to drink the water.

Residents have been warned not to cook using tap water or use the contaminated water for bathing children. They have also been told not to boil the tap water because it will only increase the toxin’s concentration.

“The city advised about 400,000 residents in Toledo, most of its suburbs and a few areas in southeastern Michigan not to brush their teeth with or boil the water because that would only increase the toxin’s concentration. The mayor also warned that children should not shower or bathe in the water and that it shouldn’t be given to pets,” said a report.

“We don’t really want to speculate on this,” Gov Kasich told the AP. “When it comes to this water, we’ve got be very careful.”

“What’s more important than water? Water’s about life,” he said. “We know it’s difficult. We know it’s frustrating.”

“The state emergency operations center has been activated in response to the water contamination issue affecting the Toledo area,” said Ohio EMA.

Stores in Toledo area have run out of bottled water as residents rushed to stock up supplies.

“These organisms are capable of producing a number of toxins that may pose a risk to human and animal health,” officials said in a press release.

Consuming the contaminated water could result in nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and other health problems.

Related Links

• If Anything Can Explode, Leak, Contaminate… January 12, 2014
• Up to 27 Million Gallons of Coal Ash Spill into Dan River, NC February 7, 2014
• Officials ‘Baffled’ by LNG Explosion in Washington April 6, 2014

Global Disasters/ Significant Events – September 9, 2013

Wildfire near Mt. Diablo forces dozens of evacuations

Mandatory evacuations were ordered for about 75 homes in Morgan Territory Road in unincorporated Contra Costa County on Sunday, September 8, due to a fast moving wildfire.

The so-called Morgan Fire rapidly burned out of control, consuming at last 800 acres, and threatening homes and other structures in the area.

Photographer Mike Oria photographed the Morgan Fire response from Brentwood, Calif., on Sunday evening, Sept. 8, 2013. (Courtesy of Mike Oria Photography)/ via Mercury News. More images…

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UK govt to close air pollution monitoring stations to cut costs

Environmentalists have accused UK govt of covering up pollution figures as it plans to shut down some 600 stations across England to cut costs, said a report.

Government advisers have estimated that one type of pollutant – miniscule particles from diesel engines, fossil fuel power stations and other sources – is killing 29,000 people a year in the UK, and costing health services about £16bn.

But European air pollution limits meant to protect health are being breached in urban areas across the country, with the highest levels in London. According to the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the limits for the toxic exhaust gas, nitrogen dioxide, were exceeded in 40 of the UK’s 43 air quality zones in 2010. Read more…

Air pollution in London is comparable to that of Beijing, says the Clean Air in London think tank. Source: Clean Air in London)

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Davis-Besse License Renewal Likely: NRC

Federal regulators say there are no safety issues that would preclude a license renewal for Ohio’s Davis-Besse pressurized water reactor.

The plant operator, FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., is seeking a 20-year license extension for the 35-year-old, 889-megawatt nuclear plant located on the SW shore of Lake Erie east of Toledo.

A number of serious incidents have occurred at the plant including

• On March 5, 2002, workers discovered a football-sized hole in the reactor vessel head, which was caused by corrosion.

Erosion ate a large hole in the 35-year-old Davis-Besse’s 150-mm thick steel reactor head.

• On September 24, 1977, the reactor shut down because of a disruption in the feedwater system.

• On June 9, 1985, the main feedwater pumps, used to supply water to the reactor steam generators, shut down.

• On June 24, 1998 an F2 tornado struck the plant, damaging the switchyard, and disabling access to external power supplies.

• In January 2003 the plant’s intranet was infected with the slammer worm, which resulted in a five hour loss of safety monitoring at the plant.

• On January 20, 2006, the plant operator acknowledged a series of safety violations, and entered into a deferred prosecution plea with the U.S. Department of Justice concerning the March 2002 incident

• On October 22, 2008 a tritium leak was accidentally discovered during an unrelated inspection.

• In 2010 the plant experienced problems with the replacement head.

• In October 2011 after the plant was shut down for maintenance workers discovered a 30 foot long hairline crack in the concrete shield building the surrounds the containment vessel.

• In 2012 the reactor coolant pump seal developed a pinhole leak.

A final decision on the operating license renewal is expected next September.

About 1.8 million people live within an 80-km radius of the nuclear plant.

Massive ecosystem collapses occurring in Great Lakes

‘Feast and Famine in the Great Lakes’

Lake Erie experiencing the worst toxic algal bloom in recorded history

Algae in Maumee Bay (Photo: S. Bihn, Lake Erie Waterkeeper)

“Nutrient-rich runoff from farms is growing a huge crop of algae along the lakes’ coasts, but those nutrients aren’t making it out to the water in the middle of the lakes. Quagga mussels are consuming almost all of it, leaving nothing left in the water for fish to eat.” NWF

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FIRE-EARTH will continue to update the 2011 Disaster Calendar for the benefit of its readers.

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Disaster Calendar 2011 – October 5

[October 5, 2011]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,624 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• North America. The Great Lakes comprise of 5 freshwater lakes located on the United States border with Canada.  Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario form the largest collection of freshwater lakes on Earth by surface area, and the second by volume. The lakes hold more than a fifth of the world’s surface fresh water [~22,600 km³.]
• Tens of millions of people in the region including all of Chicago’s three million residents, and many others in the neighboring towns and suburbs, rely on Great Lakes water for life.
• Great Lakes coasts are being clogged by massive carpets of algal blooms, some as large as 1 meter thick and 20 km wide, fed by rich nutrients from farm run-off, while invasive mussels are consuming the food chain inside the lake, starving the fish.
• “Too much food is causing massive algal blooms in Lake Erie and other coastal systems, while too little food is making fish starve in Lake Huron’s offshore waters,” according to a report by the National Wildlife Federation.
• “Nutrient-rich runoff from farms is growing a huge crop of algae along the lakes’ coasts, but those nutrients aren’t making it out to the water in the middle of the lakes. Quagga mussels are consuming almost all of it, leaving nothing left in the water for fish to eat.”
• The feast-and-famine crises are plaguing the Lakes,  the report said, causing collapse of the food chain, declines in fish populations including lake whitefish and salmon, “and resurgence of toxic algae blooms and the Lake Erie ‘Dead Zone.’”
• Feast and Famine in the Great Lakes: How Nutrients and Invasive Species Interact to Overwhelm the Coasts and Starve Offshore Waters (pdf), details the links between massive algal blooms in Lake Erie which poses  serious  health threat to people and wildlife and a 95 percent decline in fish biomass in Lake Huron. Some of the report findings on how excessive nutrients are overwhelming coastal areas are listed below:
• This summer Lake Erie experienced the worst toxic algal bloom in recorded history
• The bloom, involving the toxic alga Microcystis, at one point extended across almost the entire western basin and into the central basin, and in some places was up to 2 feet thick.
• The toxic algae can sicken or even kill people. A toxin from the algae was measured in this summer’s bloom at 1,000 times the World Health Organization guidelines for drinking water.
• Algal blooms are significant, although so far less severe, in Saginaw Bay (Michigan), Green Bay (Wisconsin), and along the Lake Michigan coastline, among other areas, and federal agencies rate nearshore areas in all lakes but Lake Superior as “poor” for nutrient phosphorus concentrations.
• The report also documents how invasive zebra and quagga mussels have consumed much of the food in the offshore waters of the lakes, causing fish to starve:
• The biomass of prey fish (which are fed upon by predators such as salmon) in the open waters of Lake Huron has declined by 95 percent in just 15 years.
• The populations of the tiny freshwater shrimp at the base of the Great Lakes food web, Diporeia, have declined in Lake Michigan by 94 percent in 10 years.

Related Links

• 2011 Disaster Calendar – September
• 2011 Much More Disastrous: FIRE-EARTH Forecast
• Global Disasters in 2011 Could Impact 1/3 to 1/2 of the Human Population  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs  (FIRE-EARTH Forecast)

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities  (EDRO Forecast)
• 2011 Disaster Calendar – August
• 2010 Disaster Calendar 
• 2011 Disaster Calendar