The community is invited to attend a public forum tonight about the scientific and health issues surrounding toxic algae blooms in Lake Erie.

The forum, “Harmful Algae in Ohio’s Great Lake,” will be 5:30 to 7 p.m. in the Driscoll Alumni Center Auditorium on Main Campus.

For those unable to attend the event on campus, the forum also will be live streamed at youtube.com/watch?v=j_FRHGtgMIs.

The panel of faculty experts from The University of Toledo and Bowling Green State University will discuss how we got to this point of a toxin produced by algae entering Toledo’s drinking water and where the region can go from here to address the issue of harmful algal blooms in western Lake Erie.

The panel discussion will be followed by a question-and-answer session with the live audience as well as questions submitted via Twitter using the hashtag #toledoalgae.

Forum panelists include:

•  Dr. Carol Stepien, UT Distinguished Professor of Ecology and director of the UT Lake Erie Center;
•  Dr. Isabel Escobar, UT professor of chemical and environmental engineering, and expert in water treatment and desalination membrane technology;
•  Kenneth Kilbert, UT law professor and director of the Legal Institute of the Great Lakes;
•  Dr. Robert McKay, Ryan Endowed Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Bowling Green State University;
•  Dr. Thomas C. Sodeman, professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Gastroenterology at the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences; and
•  Dr. Patrick Lawrence, UT professor and chair of geography and planning, who recently led a restoration project of the Ottawa River that flows through UT’s Main Campus.

The free public event is sponsored by UT’s Lake Erie Center and Urban Affairs Center. Parking is available in Lot 17 outside the building located off University Hills Boulevard.

Media Coverage
19 Action News Cleveland (Aug. 6, 2014)
13 ABC (Aug. 6, 2014)
WTOL 11 (Aug. 6, 2014)
FOX Toledo (Aug. 6, 2014)
NBC 24 (Aug. 6, 2014)
The Blade (Aug. 6, 2014)