The lake was built in 1964 and became the primary drinking source in 1996 after the termination of lake Griffy (4).
"The Lake Monroe's water treatment plant produces an average of 15 million gallons per day(4)."
"During warmer months the two organic compounds methylisoborneol and geosmin can be present in the water(8)."
These compounds do not cause major health issues to humans, however theycause the water to smell and taste horrid(8).
To help prevent the earthy tasting water, Bloomington installs water filters on drinking fountains. However they are not in every building, which forces some students to deal with nasty bitter tasting water.
"Lake Monroe is one of the nine Indiana lakes that is under the states Department of Natural Resources third highest advisory for blue-green algae(2)."
In the beginning of the school many students started reporting the changes in their water. Some of the things being reported were the color of the water which was a light brown color. (5)Not only was the color alarming many others reported the odor as well as when taking a shower, it felt like the water was burning them(5). With those complaints it was apparent that blue-green algae were present in Lake Monroe, which produces two chemicals geosmin and methylisoborneol that had caused many of the problems students faced(5). Coming aware to this was hard as college students because how busy are life are many put any minor problems on the back burner. It was stated that during the summer and going through the beginning of the school year levels were high and would go down on their own (7).The most student information available to students did not give students the chances to fight against this. With addition of this course, it had made me do more research in ways to get college students voices heard.