Toxic Blob in Cleveland Surfaces Just Before GOP Convention

A toxic blob in Lake Erie near Cleveland measuring two square miles is threatening the city's water supply, said the Plain Dealer, and it's moving closer just weeks before Republicans hold their convention there. 

The blob, made of sludge dumped into the lake years before the 1972 Clean Water Act, is on the move and contains high concentrations of pollutants PCBs and PAH and is "100 percent fatal to aquatic organisms such as worms, crustaceans, and insects that live in the soil and provide vital food for fish," according to the newspaper.

In 1969 an oil slick on the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River caught fire in the downtown area, causing about $100,000 worth of damage to two railroad bridges and branding Cleveland as a city so fouled its river catches on fire.

The Plain Dealer said the dangerous material out in the lake had been dredged from the Cuyahoga River shipping channel and dumped untreated into the lake in the years before the 1972 law.

"In and of itself, it is highly toxic," said Cleveland water quality manager Scott Moegling, according to WJW-TV. "But the water is safe; all of our monitoring to date has shown there is nothing of concern."

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said testing last fall confirmed that the blob was moving in Lake Erie and has approached one of the city's four water intakes, reported WJW-TV. The intake services northeast portions of Cuyahoga County, officials said.

Cleveland water officials have started monthly testing of the raw water and treated water connected with the intake, reported WJW-TV.

"As long as we stay vigilant and do what we need to do, our water will always be clean," Cleveland water commissioner Alex Margevicius told the television station. "This material is treatable. It's a concern, but if the scenario comes up, we will deal with it."

Bryan Stubbs, of the Cleveland Water Alliance, told Ohio Public Radio that the city could move the intake, along with treating the sediment, but both with prove to be costly.

"Water and the water industry will be a significant driver," Stubbs told Ohio Public Radio. "We need to get in front of this and, one, to let people know we have a really redundant, resilient system. But with that being said, any more chemicals, any legacy issue going into that lake is unacceptable."

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