Discoloration in Bloomington’s tap water should return to normal by next week.
The city started receiving complaints last week about the water. Some in-house filtration units also collected more dark brown sediment than usual.
Justin Meschter, water quality coordinator for the city, said high water levels at Lake Monroe, which are about 13 feet above normal, allowed iron and manganese to rise enough to enter water systems. Normally, these metals sit lower and cannot enter the water system.
“What we're seeing is, since the water was so high, these heavy metals were kind of higher up in the water column, and they were at a level where they were actually reaching our intake tower,” he said. “We were able to pull them into the treatment facility where we do have measures in place to treat metals, but they were just at a level that our treatment plant could not keep up with.”
Meschter said there were about 1.9 milligrams of iron per liter in the water, and 1.4 milligrams per liter of manganese. Those levels are about one milligram per liter higher than normal. He said the minerals do not present a health risk.
