Pennsylvania American Water Resolves Musty Odor, Bad Taste
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
1 August 2011
By Andrew Conte and Mandy Hofmockel
So far this summer, drinking water from the Monongahela River has
remained clear of musty odors and tastes.
Pennsylvania American Water officials said they are better prepared
this time to deal with the problem if it returns, even if they still
don't know the cause. Many of the company's 215,000 customers
complained about the smell and taste of their water late last summer.
"It created a scenario that threw us some curveballs when it came to
monitoring the quality of our source water," spokesman Gary Lobaugh
said.
In the past year, the company has formed the Monongahela River Users
Group to share information about the water, increased monitoring and
put measures in place to reduce the effects. Even so, officials said,
they do not know whether the problem will return.
"The river is very dynamic," said Ron Bargiel, Pennsylvania American's
water quality manager. "It's evolving. Things are constantly changing."
The taste and odor came from two compounds: geosmin, which gives soil
its earthy smell, and the organic chemical MIB, or 2-methylisoborneol.
The water remained safe to drink, but some customers were worried.
Scientists put much of the blame on a blue-green algae bloom in the
river but never identified the exact source or its cause, Bargiel said.
Several possible triggers occurred last summer, Lobaugh said, including
hot, dry weather; dredging by the Army Corps of Engineers; and the
presence of total dissolved solids from agricultural runoff, acid mine
drainage and shale gas drilling.
Since then, the gas industry has largely stopped sending its used water
to treatment plants or waterways, said Kathryn Klaber, executive
director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, a trade group. Almost all of
the water now gets reused or is sent to deep injection disposal wells
below ground.
"We are so far along from even a year ago," Klaber said.
Members of the river users group, meanwhile, have been meeting
quarterly since September. The state Department of Environmental
Protection updates members on the latest river data and regulations,
said Ron Schwartz, assistant regional director.
"It's a very complex river system, so it constantly needs attention,"
Schwartz said.
The group allows parties interested in the river to compare information
to determine trends, said Corps of Engineers spokesman Jeff Hawk. The
corps controls reservoirs that provide water to the Monongahela River
for navigation and pollutant mitigation.
Water companies have taken steps to prepare in case the compounds
return, Schwartz said.
Pennsylvania American discovered a naturally occurring bacteria that
seems to eat the compounds when they come into its filtration system,
and it has found more effective powdered activated carbons to add to
the water to remove the unpleasant smell and taste.
The company also hopes to identify the source of the problem, Bargiel
said.
"With the monitoring we have now, I think we'll have a better handle on
future events," he said.
Andrew Conte and Mandy Hofmockel can be reached at
andrewconte@tribweb.com or 412-320-7835.