Manatee County drinking water is on the mend - WWSB

Manatee County drinking water is on the mend

MYAKKA CITY, Fla. (WWSB) - Residents that live near 58th St. E. in Palmetto are still dealing with an odor and taste in their drinking water.

Resident Valerie Gill said the smell is worse in her early morning shower but continues throughout the day.

“I want to say sewer smell but I don’t know if that sounds terrible,” says Gill.

Gill said the experience is not new. She said they have been dealing with it for a while now.

“Probably longer than three or four months. Some days are way worse than others but it’s pretty much there on a regular basis. I don’t want to say that we’ve gotten used to it but kind of we’ve gotten used to it,” says Gill.

It’s due to an algae bloom in Lake Manatee. Deputy Director of Manatee County Utilities Katie Gilmore said they have been dealing with the algae blooms since the creation of the lake in the 1960′s, typically before the rainy season.

“This year it’s been prolonged because normally it’s raining now. What that means for us is that when it rains, we have an in-stream reservoir with a damn. So, when the damn’s open, it’s flowing like a river basically. We are releasing water downstream to the Manatee River,” says Gilmore.

Gilmore said when it’s not raining, the damn stays closed to keep the drinking water in there creating a spot for the algae to bloom. Gilmore said luckily the bloom is reducing.

“For about the past four weeks, the levels coming into the plant have been low enough that we’ve been able to treat successfully for it and the level leaving the plant are low enough that most people should not be able to taste or smell anything in their drinking water,” says Gilmore.

Gilmore said despite heavy rain hitting the Suncoast on Monday, Lake Manatee received none of it. She said they expect rain this week that should help reduce or even eliminate the rest of the algae bloom.

ABC7 also asked residents about the smell and taste of their water on Facebook:

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