As plans come together for a $12 million water treatment plant in Wellington, town administrator Ed Cannon is shooting for the gold standard of water quality.
Such tasting notes have long plagued the water supply in this town of more than 9,000 north of Fort Collins, where an algae bloom invades the main water source every summer.
Levels of geosmin — the organic taste and odor compound that causes the stink — were 10 times higher than they’d ever been, Cannon said.
In a Coloradoan post on the Facebook group Let’s Talk Wellington, the town’s virtual water cooler, some residents said the water smells and tastes like a swimming pool or “like chemicals.” Still, town leaders know the return of summer will threaten the return of the algae.
Other fixes include the $12 million treatment plant which is expected to be operational by April 2021.
The cost will be higher water rates.
The water treatment plant was half-staffed.
It will provide “odorless and tasteless water” to about 22,000 people, more than double the town’s current population.
“I think Wellington wants to grow beyond that.
When this was at its worst, the entire public works department showed up (at the treatment plant) and said, ‘What can we do to help?’ "No one called them.