Findlay water may taste a little earthy again

The taste and smell of Findlay's water may be a little off, as the cool nights and warm days of fall begin to churn the city's reservoirs again. Testing of the water shows the annual rollover of the reservoirs has begun, and may cause the city's water to look a little dingy and give it an earthy taste. It's still safe to use and drink, and the water department is working to fix it, said Mayor Christina Muryn. In the fall, a drop in air temperature causes the water at the surface of the reservoir to cool and sink. That drives bottom water, which contains more organic material, closer to the surface, where it is pumped into the water system, city officials have explained. Jason Phillips, Findlay's water superintendent, said the city begins testing water in the reservoirs in early September in anticipation of the rollover and begins treating the water with additional powder-activated carbon to stay ahead of it. Testing and treatment of the water then continues each week, until levels return to normal. The city began doubling down on the monitoring of the city's reservoirs in the fall of 2019, after a rollover of reservoirs fouled the taste and smell of the city's water for weeks in October 2018. That year, residents complained that it was making them sick. Both the city and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency received complaints from city residents concerned about the safety of the water. Water problems like clarity, smell and taste are considered "secondary issues" by the Ohio EPA, because they do not make the water unsafe. In October 2018, temperatures dropped from 70-degree days to 29 degrees overnight on Oct. 18. Complaints about the city's water soon followed. The water department increased the treatment of the water at both reservoirs and at the water plant. It also spent several days flushing the foul water from the system citywide. The problem lingered the longest for residents at the end of city waterlines.