Researchers at the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) say they’ve begun testing water samples with the latest technology, following last summer’s water shutdown in Toledo . Hundreds of swimmers will soon take to the lake as the weather warms up. And some swimmers will perhaps pause to ask: “How clean is the water? Are there contaminants, pollutants? Is there a risk of blue-green algae?” Those are questions that the research team at NEORSD hope to have answers to, very soon. “This unit here is about $300,000,” says Mike Citriglia, Sewer District Manager of Analytical Services. At NEORSD’s site in Cuyahoga Falls, he shows me a device called a Mass Spectrometer. It breaks down and isolates organic compounds found in water, and tells scientists what matter they are. He says the latest model not only looks for toxins produced by blue-green algae, but man-made contaminants as well. “We can not only look for these microcystins, but we can also start looking for personal care
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