Toledo algal toxin tests run Wednesday on a Lake Erie water sample collected the previous day showed a spike not reported by the administration of Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson.

The city announced in an email Wednesday afternoon that raw lake water contained 1.8 parts per billion of microcystin in raw Lake Erie water, up from 0.6 ppb Tuesday.

An examination of the analytical printout from the city’s testing machine showed a higher level from a water sample taken Tuesday but not tested until Wednesday — 2.995 ppb.

All three microcystin levels are low enough to be easily neutralized with chemical treatments, and city officials have emphasized Toledo’s tap water remains safe to drink.

Stacy Weber, spokesman for the Hicks-Hudson administration, maintained Wednesday that both announcements showing the lower numbers were accurate.

WATER DASHBOARD: Current status of Toledo’s drinking water

A review of the test results suggested the higher level was overlooked, discounted, or ignored.

Chuck Campbell, commissioner of water treatment, said the sample showing 2.995 ppb, which is actually an average of two tests showing 3.125 and 2.865 ppb, was likely taken at the water surface above the city’s water intake crib.

The sample is listed as “raw intk crb,” which stands for raw water acquired at the intake crib. The test paperwork does not indicate a depth at which the sample was taken. Previous tests taken at the surface are indicated as such.

“That would have been a grab over the side of the boat,” Mr. Campbell said. “It is not representative of our drinking water ... since microcystin floats to the top.”

Councilman Lindsay Webb, chairman of council’s public utilities committee, after hearing of the questions regarding the sample results said she would hold a public hearing to question the Hicks-Hudson about water sampling.

She also plans to hold a hearing on the reorganization of the utilities department, something prompted by a scathing report released in January that criticized the department for issues including inefficiencies, bloated management, and low cash reserves. 

A 164-page report, written by Schumaker & Co. of Ann Arbor, found that the city has no strategic plan, above-average rates of workplace injuries, below-market management salaries, supervisors who don’t actually supervise anyone, an inefficient water department customer call center, a large backlog of work orders, a sluggish water main and sewer line replacement program, and a litany of other problems.

A review this week by The Blade found that a reorganization meant to address the report results in salary increases, some by double-digit percentages. But the reorganization left the department with the same number of management employees, though the titles of some changed.

Ms. Webb was among several Toledo officials last week to call on the Hicks-Hudson administration to maintain daily testing for microcystin after tests revealed its presence in raw lake water for the first time this year on July 27. Those tests showed raw water contained 0.5 ppb.

Mayor Hicks-Hudson said on July 30 that the city would resume testing raw Lake Erie water daily for the presence of microcystin, a reversal from the previous day when city officials said the test would be preformed only weekly. The mayor said she did that because of the “hypersensitivity” of water customers.

The tests have not detected any microcystin in the city’s treated drinking water and officials stressed that the water remains safe to drink, Mr. Campbell said.

The analytical printout of Wednesday’s tests obtained by The Blade showed a treated tap water test produced a 0.01 ppb result, an infinitesimal amount that is considered “nondetectable” but still shows up on the testing results.

The city’s water supply was rendered undrinkable Aug. 2-4 last year when the toxin overwhelmed the Collins Park Water Treatment Plant, contaminating the city drinking water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May said it is acceptable for people school-age and older to drink tap water with up to 1.6 ppb of microcystin in it. The limit for infants and children younger than 6 years old, pregnant women, nursing mothers, people with liver conditions, and those on dialysis is 0.3 ppb.

Contact Ignazio Messina at: imessina@theblade.com or 419-724-6171 or on Twitter @IgnazioMessina.

First Published August 6, 2015, 4:00 a.m.