Toledo’s ‘Ozonator’ should eliminate drinking water risk from toxic algae blooms
TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - It’s called the “Ozonator”. It’s a new $50 million dollar treatment facility at the Toledo Collins Park Water Treatment Plant.
Adding Ozone Treatment to the water kills any harmful microcystin that comes from toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie.
That’s the toxin that shut down Toledo’s drinking water supply in the summer of 2014.
Andy McClure is the Collins Park Water Administrator and says this is the best technology on the market to clean the water. “Ozone is like bleach but it’s much more aggressive and it’s also harder to handle because it breaks down so quickly. It works really fast.”
The process acts as sort of a final filter process for the harmful microcystin that comes from the toxic algae blooms. “We have a very controlled process that takes oxygen and arcs electricity through it turns it into ozone and then we apply the ozone to the water,” says McClure.
Another $50 million was spent on the treatment basins where the other chemicals like carbon are added and filtered through to clean the water.
The $104 million upgrade to the treatment plant could reasonably mean Toledo wouldn’t see another drinking water emergency due to toxic algae blooms.
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