In fact, the danger officials wanted to warn them about wasn’t coming from the sky.
For the first time in Oregon’s history, toxins from a nearby algae bloom had made their way into a city’s tap water.
Today, Oregon for the first time has rules largely unheard of in the United States.
Wilhelm is interested in the circumstances that lead harmful blooms to overtake a body of water—and why that seems to be happening more and more.
"It’s a concern in many states—especially states that pull water from surface waters that are contaminated with these," says Dr. Tim Davis, who studies harmful algae blooms at Bolwing Green State University in Ohio.
Today, Rhode Island is considering new drinking water regulations for algae.
Wilhelm hopes the attention will lead to more awareness about the dangers of algae.
The lake feeds the Santiam River, from which the city pulls its drinking water.
"We noticed algae back in 2010 and said, ‘Hey we better start testing for it," says Peter Fernandez, Salem’s public works director.
Algae has persisted around Detroit Lake, but since the new system went live on July 4, Salem’s water has been free of algae toxins.

DETROIT (AP) — Some 50,000 Detroit public school students will start the school year Tuesday by drinking water from coolers, not fountains, after the discovery of elevated levels of lead or copper — the latest setback in a state already dealing with the consequences of contaminated tap water in Flint and other communities.
Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti expects the closure of water fountains and other drinking fixtures in all 106 schools to go smoothly because the district — Michigan’s largest — had previously turned off the tap in 18 schools.
"With the water coming from the water coolers, they just trust it more and are drinking it more."
"I’ve been sending water to school every day with his name on it — five bottles of water in a cooling pack," said Hardison, 39.
Now, look at the water here.
They should have known it was going to be a problem with this old infrastructure."
Vitti, who took over in Detroit in 2017 after the district had been under state management for years, said it is "preposterous" that schools are not forced to test for lead and that Detroit’s problems are reflective of inequities in urban America and a lack of spending on infrastructure.
"You can test the water coming into a building," he said.
It was a more expansive sampling than was conducted in 2016 — testing that came in the wake of the crisis in Flint, where the water source was switched under state management and not treated to prevent corrosion, enabling lead to leach from aging service lines and household fixtures.
Only eight states require lead-in-water testing in schools and Michigan is not among them.

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (WPRI) — Parts of South County are under a boil water advisory for a fourth day, after E.coli bacteria was found in the water supply.
School leaders are concerned, but they say the first day of classes will go on as planned, with a few adjustments.
South Kingstown’s superintendent Kristen Stringfellow sent a message to families, saying the school lunch menu will be flexible until the advisory is lifted, and meals will be prepared with bottled water.
Water fountains and sinks will also be shut down.
South Kingstown schools will be providing bottled water for drinking, as well as for hand-washing.
Health officials say they hope to have corrective actions in place by Wednesday.
If that’s accomplished as planned, the necessary follow-up water testing can begin.
Test results showing the absence of bacteria in the water are required every day for three days in a row before the advisory can be lifted.
Health officials say, so far, no illnesses have been reported.
A public water filling station has been set up at the Kingston fire station and is open for anyone who is affected.

DETROIT (AP) — Some 50,000 Detroit public school students will start the school year Tuesday by drinking water from coolers not fountains after the discovery of elevated levels of lead or copper in the supply — the latest setback in a state already dealing with the consequences of contaminated tap water in Flint and other communities.
Detroit Public Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti expects the closure of water fountains and other drinking fixtures in all 106 schools to go smoothly because the district — Michigan’s largest — had previously turned off the tap in 18 schools.
"With the water coming from the water coolers, they just trust it more and are drinking it more."
Detroit is not the first major school district to switch to bottled water.
"I’ve been sending water to school every day with his name on it — five bottles of water in a cooling pack," said Hardison, 39.
Now, look at the water here.
Vitti, who took over in Detroit in 2017 after the district had been under state management for years, said it is "preposterous" that schools are not forced to test for lead and that Detroit’s problems are reflective of inequities in urban America and a lack of spending on infrastructure.
It was a more expansive sampling than was conducted in 2016 — testing that came in the wake of the crisis in Flint, where the water source was switched under state management and not treated to prevent corrosion, enabling lead to leach from aging service lines and household fixtures.
Water-quality issues have been identified at some water outlets in 34 Detroit schools.
Only eight states require lead-in-water testing in schools and Michigan is not among them.

With the water crisis in the Cape provinces (Northern, Western and Eastern), we investigate whether sales of bottled water have significantly increased over the past year, and what the outlook is for 2018 and beyond.
Insight Survey’s latest SA Bottled Water Landscape Report 2018 carefully unfolds the global and local bottled water markets based on the latest information and research.
It examines the market drivers and restraints as well as global and local market trends to present an objective insight into the South African bottled water industry environment, market dynamics and its future.
In 2017, China had the highest bottled water consumption at 25.5 billion gallons.
Looking into the future, the Bottled Water market value is forecast to grow at an average compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.3% from 2018 to 2022.
In South Africa, the demand for bottled water increased over the last few years as a result of municipal water quality decreasing, and the severe drought experienced in the Western Cape.
The quality of municipal water in South Africa does, however, remain a concern and it is expected that certain consumers will continue to opt for bottled water in the future in order to avoid the health risks associated with contaminated water.
In reality, however, most South African consumers simply cannot afford to buy bottled water regularly as it is still considered a luxury by many.
The South African Bottled Water Industry Landscape Report 2018 (111 pages) provides a dynamic synthesis of industry research, examining the local and global Bottled Water industry from a uniquely holistic perspective, with detailed insights into the entire value chain – from manufacturing and retailing to distribution, consumption, purchasing trends and pricing analysis.
For additional information simply contact us at info@insightsurvey.co.za or directly on (0)21 045-0202.

Great Barrington — As the town prepares to implement its decision to ban the sale of small single-use plastic water bottles — despite a last-minute attempt to thwart the initiative that had been adopted at the May Annual Town Meeting — some local businesses are embracing the embargo by installing water refill stations where customers can fill up their reusable water bottles.
We’re going to see if Berkshire Mountain Water would like to sponsor the water station, but if not we will use tap water.” Still, he added, it will take a while to recalibrate our reliance upon plastic service items.
So this ban on plastic water bottles is just a beginning.” Adam Sugarman, customer services manager at the Berkshire Co-op Market agrees that the ban is just a start.
Prior to the plastic bag ban adopted at the 2014 town meeting, the Berkshire Co-op was already charging 10 cents for individual paper bags and money was never the goal.
But it increased awareness a lot.” Raising awareness of the proliferation of plastic waste is what Matt Masiero, co-owner of Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, attempted to do at the August 6 special town meeting that had been scheduled to consider a repeal of the plastic water bottle ban.
“We had written a letter to the editor,” Masiero said, “and I was going to go up and read that letter at the special town meeting for that those who had not had the benefit of seeing it.” As it turned out, Masiero, a Richmond resident, did not have an opportunity to present his letter.
“Our goal is to eliminate as much plastic as we can,” Masiero continued.
We got rid of plastic bags, because we had an easy solution.
We have bigger problems we need to start dealing with and this is just a start.” When the ban goes into effect next year, Great Barrington will become the third community in the United States to prohibit the sale of small single-use plastic water bottles.
It’ll change your whole outlook.” He then pointed to a monitor at the entrance of Guido’s that has the documentary being screened repeatedly for customers.

Karen Lewis knows about water problems.
In Compton, residents have been living with foul-smelling brown water because the cost of fixing the pipes is high, and many can’t afford to buy a constant supply of bottled water.
First proposed by Democratic state Sen. Bill Monning of Carmel as a mandatory tax, it didn’t muster the necessary two-thirds vote for passage, and Monning scaled it back.
Associations representing those industries endorsed the bill, in part because the paying companies would have been protected from having to clean tainted water of nitrates.
Legislators estimated that together the two bills could have raised more than $100 million a year.
The measures wouldn’t have solved all the state’s drinking-water problems, but money from both could have been used for operations, not just infrastructure projects, said Phoebe Seaton, co-director of the nonprofit Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, based in Fresno .
“That means helping … some districts get solvent so they can apply for grants,” she said.
“This is a social issue for the state of California, and the state should do something about it,” Tuck said.
“I had one city tell me it would be over a million dollars just to change their system.” Many customers might not even have known they’d paid an additional fee, she said, particularly if they used an auto-pay feature.
And if customers paid the voluntary charge without meaning to, they could have had their money refunded, setting off another complicated accounting procedure, Tuck said.

Maddy Lauria Tests have shown that drinking water in some older Lewes homes has elevated levels of lead, state health officials said Thursday.
The Division of Public Health was notified late last week by the Lewes Board of Public Works that drinking water samples collected in three of 10 homes tested in August exceeded the EPA Action Level for lead, officials said.
Lewes BPW General Manager Darren Gordon said Thursday after the state alert was issued that the city’s drinking water source is safe.
Lewes draws its water from five wells, which are regularly tested for lead and other contaminants.
Gordon said the BPW specifically targeted an area with older homes that may have had lead service pipes or plumbing that can leach lead into water.
There is no safe level for lead in drinking water.
State health officials advise that residents run water for 30 seconds before using it in order to flush lead from plumbing; use cold water when cooking or preparing baby formula; or consider bottled water as an alternative.
To find a test kit, call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline at (800) 426-4791 or go to www.epa.gov/safewater/labs.
The contamination found in Lewes comes on the heels of a discovery of elevated levels of lead and copper in the drinking water at more than a dozen Detroit public schools.
Less than 100 miles away in Flint, Michigan, people are still dealing with tainted water years after a change in water service led to serious drinking water contamination in that town.

Staff and students at Warren Elementary School are drinking bottled water this week while state and school district officials sort out several tests which showed conflicting results as to the levels of the chemical family PFAS that were found in the school’s well last month.
The bottled water is a short-term measure while a longer-term filtration system is put together.
School district officials and school Principal Beth Peterson are hosting a public meeting led by Kimberly Caldwell, environmental analyst with the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and some others from the state to discuss the water on Tuesday, September 4, at 6 p.m. in the Warren Elementary School cafeteria.
Warren Elementary School and nine others in the state were selected for a pilot program run by the Vermont DEC.
The first test of the Warren Elementary School water showed results as high as 36.6 parts per trillion.
PFAS refers to a large group of compounds used in a variety of industrial processes and found in numerous consumer products including floor cleaners and waxes, nonstick products, cooking utensils and pans, food packaging and stain repellent fabrics.
PFAS can cause harmful effects on the immune system and, in serious cases, various forms of cancer.
Brigid Nease, superintendent of the Harwood Unified Union School District (HUUSD), reported to district parents last week that Warren students would start the week with bottled water.
During that conservation Caldwell reports that the third test is valid and that the state is moving forward with a carbon filtration system in the near term with contractors working on a longer-term solution that needs to be approved by the DEC’s drinking water division.
Caldwell said testing of the water before and after the carbon filtration and permanent solution will continue.

China is sending investigators to Hunan province after local officials were accused of faking data at a water monitoring station, state media report.
The officials are alleged to have placed sensors intended to measure the water quality of Lujiang River inside bottles of mineral water instead.
The river, in Zhuzhou, is badly polluted by sewage water, reports say.
There is widespread suspicion that some local officials and companies in China ignore environmental policies.
The environment ministry says it is investigating in Zhuzhou and "will seriously punish" any "violations".
One monitoring sensor was even placed in a cup of tea instead of the Lujiang River, Xinhua news agency says.
Water monitoring currently takes place at 2,050 sites in the country, China Daily reports.
In 2016, one government report said more than 80% of rural wells in the north-east contained water unsafe for drinking.
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