MATTOON —The city of Mattoon will be spending around $300,000 to prevent harmful algal blooms (also known as algae blooms) such as the one that tainted its drinking water a month ago.
The Mattoon City Council unanimously approved four motions on Tuesday night to address the possibility of future outbreaks. That includes having algaecide sprayed at the city’s two reservoirs, Lake Mattoon and Lake Paradise, both located south of Mattoon.
The city is hiring Aquatic Control to apply the algaecide, at a cost of $34,112.00 per application in Mattoon, and $6,983.00 per application in the smaller Lake Paradise.
City Manager Kyle Gill said each application of the algaecide should cover roughly one fifth of a lake’s area.
“We want to get two sprays in, to see what the algae is in the water,” he told the council. “Hopefully, after a couple of sprays, and a little bit cooler weather we had this week, it really knocks it down.”
The city council also voted to replace its non-functioning water pump at Lake Mattoon with a new vertical turbine pump, costing $183,356.21 from Vandevanter Engineering. The failure of the pump at Lake Mattoon had forced the city to rely on Lake Paradise alone for its drinking water.
Gill said they have been trying to repair the Lake Mattoon pump for years without success.
“We’ve decided we need a new pump,” he added. “We need a motor, we need a new drive shaft. And then, with the bigger pump, we need a new variable drive speed.”
Until the new pump is installed, the city will rent a temporary pump for Lake Mattoon on a month-to-month basis. The city council approved the spending of up to $21,204.00 a month for the rental from Velocity-Cogent Companies.
City officials said having the ability to pump water out of both reservoirs is especially important while the lakes are being treated with algaecide, because water cannot be used from a lake while it is being treated.
Harmful blooms of blue-green algae (actually bacteria with the appearance of algae) infested both Lake Mattoon and Lake Paradise in July. As they died, they produced microcystins, a dangerous neurotoxin, in the water.
The city and the Coles County Health Department issued a “Do Not Drink” order on July 10, warning against drinking, cooking or washing dishes with the city water supply. The order was lifted on July 13, but reinstated on July 15, when testing showed a new increase in the level of neurotoxins in the water.
The order was finally lifted permanently on July 18, when new tests indicated the toxins had dropped to safe levels.