Recently the city of Lake Oswego’s water-treatment plant began treating drinking water for taste and odor problems after customers complained about earthy and musty-tasting water flowing from their taps. City officials said the odors and tastes are not dangerous, explaining that a harmless algae bloom in the Clackamas River is responsible.
Algal blooms periodically create periods of taste and odor problems for water treatment plants using lake, reservoir or river water. The typical method of handling the problem is to add ozone or powdered activated carbon. Ozone requires an upfront capital investment, but provides the benefit of added disinfection which might reduce the need for chlorine additions.
Lake Oswego will begin year-round ozone use to treat for taste and odor problems in 2016.