Water Treatment Process Improvements 

The primary source of the Community’s drinking water is Lake Serena.  Water is withdrawn from the lake through a pipe that extends approximately 100-feet beyond the shoreline and eight-feet below the surface. Every winter ice forms on the lakes and the thickness is a function of the amount of snow (deeper snow means thicker ice).  During the winter of 2011, and again in 2017, ice formed around the pipe reducing the water temperature to 1° Celsius creating challenges in the treatment process. Extension of the intake pipe into deeper water may be the solution; during the summer of 2016 the District installed sampling tubes that extend 50 and 100-feet beyond the end of the existing pipe. Since that time the Operators have been comparing the physical and chemical properties of the water from the deeper locations to that taken from the existing intake before a decision is  made on whether or not to proceed with installation of a longer pipe.  

In the interim the Operators have performed bench scale testing of low temperature water using different polymers and coagulant aides and during the summer of 2018 mixing equipment will be added to the plant’s treatment train to improve the flocculation process when the water is very cold.