Toledo mayor compares water crisis to 9/11

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Toledo’s mayor compares the city’s recent water emergency to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in terms of being a wake-up call for community action.

Mayor D. Michael Collins tells The Blade newspaper that the water crisis earlier this month should change attitudes about water concerns the same way the terrorist attacks changed attitudes about terrorism preparedness.

He called the water contaminated by blooming algae in Lake Erie “an environmental attack.”

About 400,000 people were left without clean tap water Aug. 2 to Aug 4 when toxins produced by the algae got into the city’s water supply.

Also on Monday, the city council questioned the administration’s utilities leaders about water testing, the emergency response and the progress of the planned $300 million in renovations to the water plant.