Sunday, May 18, 2008 — Currently some of the city of Albemarle’s water system customers are noticing an unusual taste in their water and also possibly some color changes in their water.
“We are experiencing an algae bloom in the Tucker-town Reservoir and this has caused the water to have a different taste and odor,” said Director of Public Utilities, Ernie Borders.
“But what’s most important is that the water is safe to drink.”
Public Utilities staff is constantly monitoring the quality of the water and test results continue to indicate that the water is safe to drink.
The Public Utilities staff is taking a controlled approach to the treatment of this problem with the use of chemicals to help eliminate the algae bloom and the injection of activated carbon to help eliminate the taste and odor problems. Other cities along the Yadkin River have also experienced this problem so it is not unique only to our community.
The city of Albemarle has been fortunate in the past, and not seen any algae bloom problems of this level, Borders said.
Some cities taking water from the Yadkin River have this problem annually, but traditionally it has not been a problem for us. Due to the warm temperatures and the on-going drought situation, the algae bloom has occurred and has not moved through the reservoir like it normally would with the heavy spring rains.
“The algae, being a living organism, decays when it dies and falls to the bottom of the reservoir. A musty odor develops which can be detected during the water treatment process. The lack of rainfall has slowed the movement of water through the reservoir, which in turn has slowed the natural process of eliminating algae blooms,” Borders said.
Borders and the rest of Public Utilities staff are working closely with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) Pub-lic Water Supply Section to insure that our citizens and Stanly County customers have the highest quality of drinking water and to alleviate the algae problem as soon as possible.
For more info contact: Borders at (704) 984-9609.
