TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - Days after Toledo's water crisis Mayor D. Michael Collins suggested that the tests could have been a false positive.
"Is there a chance we were dealing with false positives this past weekend?" said Collins. "I believe that would be true."
BGSU Biology Professor Dr. Michael McKay says there is always a chance of a false positive result and a number of things could play a role.
In the case of microcystin, some common interfering agents can be high levels of calcium, magnesium, and organic compounds. Dr. McKay says generally most of those compounds are lower in Lake Erie, however false positive results can also come into play because of user error.
The Ohio EPA issued guidelines when testing for microcystin Thursday to make sure there is a standard approach used by all the water authorities in the state and all test results can be interrupted correctly.
"This is the kit that we're using here at BGSU," said McKay. "It is the same kit that the Ohio EPA has named in their guidelines to use. It's a very trustworthy kit, we've been using it for several years now and we're happy with its performance."
Considering their good performances Dr. McKay says there is no reason to believe that the test results from the City of Toledo were invalid.
