Making waves in water quality

For residents complaining about water quality, relief is on the horizon. Two occurrences caused the taste, smell and appearance of city water to suffer in November. Both have been managed for the time being. In the future, water quality will be greatly improved if the Clarke County Reservoir Project progresses, said Osceola Water Works Superintendent Brandon Patterson.

Annual disinfectant changes

Once a year, Osceola switches from using chloramines to purify city water supplies to free chlorine. These chemicals do a better job of disinfecting the water – and the public infrastructure it runs through – than chlormines. Unfortunately, the change results in a bleach-like smell and taste with the potential to last a few weeks.

“This year has been tremendously better. Last year it was horrible,” said Patterson.

Osceola Water Works acted proactively this year in changing out all eight of the carbon filters at the water treatment plant. The filters soak in and process the chemicals responsible for the strange tastes and odors residents have reported.

Typically, the city changes only four of the filters every year. At $13,000 - $15,000, it’s a significant investment in water quality. Unfortunately, based on the design of the current system and growing environmental factors, it’s a necessity.

Battling algae blooms

“Surface water is a lot different from ground water,” said Patterson. “With ground water, you have issues, but quality is pretty consistent. With surface water, it’s constantly changing.”

This year, late-season algae bloom was a surprisingly persistent problem. Osceola Water Works treats West Lake, the source of the city’s water supply, with copper sulfate for algae control. As the algae dies off, it creates toxins to treat for as well, creating a precarious balancing act made worse by warm fall temperatures and agricultural run-off during storms.

Future benefits

“Part of the drawback we have here is our treatment plant is right below the dam,” said Patterson. “The longer you have to treat it, the better it will be.”

Improving length of treatment is just one of the reasons Patterson is a big proponent of the Clarke County Reservoir Project. In addition, Osceola will greatly expand it’s available water volume and carbon filters won’t have to be replaced as often to ensure high quality.

“It will be five or six miles from the plant,” said Patterson. “Several neighboring areas don’t treat their lakes directly. They use different types of chemicals in the transmission line.”

The city is also looking at new carbon filters made specifically for processing surface water. While a major investment, these will help improve Osceola’s water quality while the reservoir project is in the works.

Individual home improvements

In the meantime, families who worry about the quality of water coming out of their taps have options available at every budget level. Pattee Zellmer of Zellmer’s Culligan in Creston pointed out how affordable water purification at home can be.

“You can rent or purchase. The rentals for the drinking water systems start at $20,” she said. “It’s going to remove the chlorine, nitrates and nitrites, and some bacteria.”

The filtration system has a series of three separate filters water travels through, removing harmful contaminants, and strange tastes and odors.