Ozone-Treated Water Prevents Algae Odor in NC

Posted by markO3 on September 15, 2009 under Commercial Ozone Usage, Ozone News, Water Remediation | Be the First to Comment

In July of 2009, residents of Brunswick County North Carolina found themselves unable to drink tap water due to a mysterious musty, earthy smell.  Analysis by the Brunswick County Public Utilities department later traced the problem to an algae bloom in the Cape Fear River, a major source of water for that region.  When pulled from the river and treated with chlorine dioxide, the algae was killed but a chemical by-product was left behind causing an unpleasant odor.  The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners recently agreed to spend $44,803 and implement additional, secondary systems to help avoid the problem should another algae spike occur in the river.  (See the Star-News [ 1 , 2 ] for their coverage of the situation)

Why mention it here?  The most interesting takeaway from the entire situation is that across the river in Wilmington, NC (where they also get their water from Cape Fear River) there never was an odor issue.  On the Wilmington side of the river the local Water Authority uses ozone to treat their water rather than chlorine (see here for details).  Wilmington’s decision to utilize ozone was based (in part) on the superior taste and smell of ozone-treated water. which certainly seems to be the case here.

When asked, Brunswick County representatives cited cost as one reason for not pursuing their own ozone treatment facility.  For that reason, it is also worth noting here that although initial start-up costs of a large scale ozone treatment facility may be higher than a chlorine-based system, the long term costs are lower due to savings on chemicals and maintenance.

For further (detailed) reading, please reference “Elimination of Algae with Ozone”.