Bay County has had a taste and odor issues with the drinking water supply. Bay City Water Treatment officials attribute the problem to higher than usual blue-green algae bloom in the Saginaw Bay. Officials said the water had a musty or dirty taste to it recently. While officials say the water has been treated and is safe to drink, some families have switched to bottled water.
Bay City supplies water to most of the county and gets its water from the inner bay. the city uses ozone to treat the drinking water. The staff has been working diligently for the past two weeks to eradicate taste and odor issues from the water. They are not seeing the taste and odor at the plant, but it will take a few days to change over the distribution water in the system.
People can expect to see more algae blooms, even in the Great Lakes, as more waste and other nutrients are released into the waters. That, combined with hot temperatures, can lead to more blooms. Increases in the blooms can overwhelm the existing treatment plants causing the taste and odor problems. Normally, ozone, as used in Bay city completely treat the taste and odor problems. Reducing nutrient load in lakes and reservoirs may be an additional step governments can take to better control these incidents.