May 7, 2015

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released the first nationwide guidelines Wednesday for determining when algal toxins have reached dangerous levels in public water systems and do-not-drink warnings might be needed.

 

Up to 48 million people nationwide get drinking water from lakes and reservoirs that could become fouled with toxins generated by algae-like bacteria, the federal agency said. Pollution from cyanobacteria, otherwise known as blue-green algae, in Lake Erie left more than 400,000 people in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan without usable tap water for two days last August.