We apologize for the taste and odor issues experienced in September and October. Tyler Steury CBU Water Quality 812-349-3655

City of Bloomington Utilities (CBU) began to receive a series of taste and odor complaints on Friday September 10, 2021. This appears to be a system wide issue as the complaints were not concentrated in any one area. The drinking water is tested multiple times daily; those samples continue to be free of contaminants that affect public health. CBU is confident that the water is safe to drink but water that tastes good is also important. In the past, it was common for CBU to receive taste and odor complaints through the summer and fall. A musty odor is familiar to surface water systems, resulting from naturally occurring organic chemicals Geosmin and Methyl-Isoborneol (MIB). As part of its effort to prevent the formation of disinfection by-products, CBU began to add Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC) to the treatment basins in 2017. A happy side-effect of this treatment change was that PAC removes MIB and Geosmin, and Bloomington’s water has tasted better ever since. The current series of complaints is the first CBU has had since 2017. Possibly, the dry and warm weather has resulted in more than the usual algae which produces the organic compounds which cause taste and odor issues. CBU’s treatment system is able to remove algae, but the taste and odor they produce sometimes persist after treatment. These compounds are not a health concern, but they are an aesthetic issue that affects communities using lakes as their water source. CBU’s water quality team is investigating each complaint and taking steps to try to eliminate the issue, such as increasing the amount of Powdered Activated Carbon, flushing lines, and tasting the water as it leaves the plant and each of our storage tanks. We are also doing additional testing for common taste and odor producers at the lake, the treatment plant, the storage tanks, and some sample sites in the distribution system where there have been complaints. Feel free to call me at 812-361-7774 with any questions. Tyler Steury CBU Water Quality Coordinator