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Longview water plant increasing dissolved oxygen to improve water

Additive latest move to address problems with taste, smell

By Marissa Heffernan, The Daily News
Published: October 25, 2019, 8:32pm

Longview residents and Beacon Hill Sewer District customers may taste and see a slight difference in their water starting Nov. 4, as the city boosts the amount of dissolved oxygen in the tapwater.

Public Works Director Jeff Cameron said the goal is to improve the water’s taste and odor as the city follows suggestions from its water quality plan.

Currently, 4 milligrams of dissolved oxygen are added to every liter of water at the Mint Farm Regional Water Treatment Plant, Cameron said. On Nov. 4, that will increase to 5 milligrams of dissolved oxygen per liter.

“The hope is that the increase is permanent, but last time we went to five we got a lot of customer calls about it,” Cameron said. “So we’re not sure what the reaction will be this time.”

Cameron said as more oxygen is added, water could appear cloudy or milky, but it’s just bubbles in the water. He said it’s not harmful, and the water should return to normal after sitting for a minute. Ideally, Cameron said, the taste and odor of the water will be better.

The long-term goal outlined in the city’s plan is to eventually go up to 6 milligrams of dissolved oxygen per liter, but Cameron said that depends on how well the systems, and the customers, respond to this increase.

“We’ll go to five, hopefully the system will stabilize, and then we’ll try to go up to six,” Cameron said, though there’s no timeline on that move.

The city has struggled to improve water quality since switching from the Cowlitz River to Mint Farm artesian wells for its water supply in 2013. It’s latest effort was to add a oxygen injection system, completed in August, to improve the taste and appearance of the water.

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