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9/16/22
By: Maggie Cooper
Have you noticed the past few days, the water you drink is smelling and tasting funny? How whenever you get a drink, any drink, at a restaurant it tastes bad? Or even the water you bathe in, or wash your hands in, smells like it’s from the sewer? This is because of a recent algae bloom in Monroe Lake, which is our county’s chief water source.
This is a lake in Mr. Anspaugh's (6th grade) neighborhood with algae.
Fortunately, the water is still safe to drink. According to the City of Bloomington Utilities, the terrible smell and taste is caused by the presence of the organic compounds methylisoborneol and geosmin. Neither of them are harmful to humans, but make the water unpleasant to drink. “It just doesn’t taste right. It makes it hard when I’m at dance, because I don’t want to drink the water,” Wren Ferguson said.
What blue-green algae can look like on the water.
On a bad note, there is nothing that can be done short-term about this issue. In the long-term, people are trying to work with nearby land-owners to decrease the run-off into the lake. During most of the year, the utility pumps chemicals that reduces the odor-producing compounds until it is undetectable. But right now, the utility is pumping system can allow. And, if the pumping capacity increased, it would not only cost millions of dollars, but it would also damage the filtration capacity. The filtration capacity would spring into action if blue-green algae actually got into our drinking water. Unlike the organic compounds, blue-green algae would harm us if it was consumed.
There isn’t much that can be done for the water, other than hope for rain. The rain would increase the water level in Lake Monroe, which would help the lakes water levels mix and would make the water temperature go down. All of these would make the bad taste and smell go away.
So, what can be done to make the bad taste go away? There are a couple things you can do to improve or mask the bad taste:
These are lemons, adding them to your water can be desired by many people.
-Add lemons to the water, or add lemon juice or extract. The strong taste of the lemon will mask the taste of the water. “The lemon taste really covers up the bad taste,” Kelsey Blevins said.
Adding ice to the water will chill the water, making it taste better.
-Chill the water. It is said to reduce that bad taste in the water.
A filtering water pitcher.
-If you do not get your water directly from your fridge, you might know about the filtering water pitcher, where your pour water from the sink into the top of it, and it will make it drinkable. If you repeat the filtering process multiple times, it will make the taste better.
Contributor Bio:
Maggie Cooper is a 12 y/o female who likes teacups, writing, and the color green. Her favorite animal is a butterfly, and she has a strong dislike for asparagus.
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