Bloomington progresses on water quality issue

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Bloomington’s water problems are nearly solved with Lake Bloomington once again being used for drinking water.

In late January, the Bloomington Water Department started getting complaints about the taste of the water in town. Algae blooms are not uncommon in the lakes but are usually in the summer. Due to volatile weather conditions this year, though, they hit before the department was prepared.

“It appears that we basically had a greenhouse effect and launched the algae into a growth cycle back in January,” Water Department Director Ed Andrews said.

After the complaints, the city temporarily switched to using Lake Evergreen while Lake Bloomington was being treated. Algae can potentially cause health risks when left unaddressed in water sources, said Andrews, but the treatments began before it reached that point.

In early April, the city switched back to Lake Bloomington so that Lake Evergreen could also receive algae treatments. According to Andrews, taste and odor issues start to emerge when the water has more than 10 nanograms per liter of Methyl-Isoborneol (MIB), a common contaminant in drinking water.

Given the situation, the department managed to secure a powder activated carbon system, which can filter out particles far more precisely than their usual equipment.

“Normally, what we want to do is just provide water and be consistent,” Andrews said. “It’s a challenge that we unfortunately did not have all of the equipment that we would ideally have.”

The purity of the water is quickly increasing now, with Andrews predicting that the taste and odor issues will disappear completely within the next week or two.