TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - The city is continuing to stress the water is safe to drink and residents should not panic.
"Rumors that are not verified on the Water Quality Dashboard should be disregarded," Mayor Paula Hicks Hudson said during a press conference Thursday.
The Water Quality Dashboard supports what the mayor is saying: Your water is safe to drink. Despite the rumors, the needle has not moved off of 'clear' this week. City leaders say you can trust the dashboard.
Several gathered to reaffirm the water is safe to drink.
Collins Park Water Treatment Plant is running just as normal, taking nearly 650 water quality tests daily. That is well above what they are EPA standards.
"Green water does not necessarily mean it's toxic water and on the other hand clear water could be toxic, so there is a disconnect there," said Ed Moore, Director of Public Utilities. "I think people are seeing green water and they are automatically assuming that their tap water is contaminated when that's water that's in the river and lake that hasn't even been treated yet."
While Thursdays results show non-detect for the toxin microcystin in the lake and tap, the water coming from the intake in Lake Erie is treated the moment it's taken to a pump station and continues through the water treatment plant.
Several chemicals are added to the water along with chlorine to further disinfect it. While some worry about the chemicals, city leaders say they are safe and they want to be transparent about the process.
"The chemicals we use to treat are settled out during the filtering process," explained Moore. "Everything we do, our final product is all within Ohio EPA guidelines."
City officials stress the importance of looking at the data they post daily and checking that water dashboard that is 100 percent accurate. While several still rushed to get water Wednesday, some medical professionals say that may not be best.
"Bottled water is not regulated the same way the water is regulated here so in essence you're getting a better product that's safe and you can trust as opposed to producing a lot of plastic waste," said Dr. David Kennedy, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toledo.
Health officials stressed that they would never allow anything to happen without your knowledge first.
The city says if you hear any rumors you should go to their water quality dashboard to find the truth.
