Photo by Eric Ayres Customers of the municipal water system in Wheeling have noticed unusual tastes and odors to the water in recent weeks. City officials are working to address the issue, which has been attributed to an algae bloom on the Ohio River, where the city's water treatment plant receives half of its raw water. Despite the smell and taste, the water is safe to use and to drink, officials stressed.

WHEELING – Officials in the city of Wheeling are taking steps to mitigate the “earthy” taste and odor that has become prevalent in the municipal water system in recent weeks.

The Wheeling Water Department issued a public statement Tuesday noting that officials were aware of the issue, which has been attributed to a recent algae bloom on the Ohio River.

Water Department Superintendent Lori Siburt said that although the current state of the water is not ideal, it is safe to drink.

“We test the water for many things every day, and we also run a bacteria sample to see if it’s safe to drink,” Siburt said. “We have not had any issues with it at all.”

Siburt noted that the water is not as palatable as it normally is, and officials are working to improve the current situation.

“A lot of people can’t drink something if it has an odor or if it tastes bad — I understand that,” she said. “I don’t expect people to drink it if it tastes bad, but it is safe to use and safe to drink.”

During this week’s meeting of Wheeling City Council, Ward 5 Councilman Ty Thorngate brought up the issue, as a number of constituents around town have been noticing the funky flavors and aromas coming from their taps.

“We’ve received a number of those complaints as well,” Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron said. “The water that is treated and goes out of the plant and into your spigots is 100 percent safe. There are occasionally issues this time of year with the treatment of the type of water that we’re getting from the river, but the water is safe.”

Herron noted that raw water from the Ohio River and other sources is tested as it comes into the Water Treatment Plant and as it goes out of the plant.

Although the water is safe to drink, Siburt explained steps being taken to improve its quality after complaints about the odor and taste over the past couple of weeks. This includes relying less on intake from the river and more on the city’s seven wells for the system’s raw water source while the algae bloom is occurring.

“We’ve changed our treatment process by turning on all of the wells, reducing the amount of river water to try to mitigate that,” Siburt said. “And we’ve also increased the amount of carbon that we’re feeding, which is used for taste and odor issues.”

The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) has been working with the Wheeling Water Department to address the issue. Siburt said officials hope to pinpoint the specific type of algae causing the problem to determine whether additional treatment options are needed beyond current measures.

“We’ve had algal blooms before,” Siburt said. “This is not anything toxic. It’s nothing like that. It’s a pretty benign algae. Unfortunately, this particular algae must have some kind of taste or odor component. We don’t know what kind of algae it is at this point. We are going to take a few samples and have it tested to see if we can do something more than what we’re doing. We’ve also tried to flush out the system a little bit to see if we can get rid of what is in the system, but until we know if it’s gone by us, there’s not much sense in wasting that much water if we’re just going to pull the same stuff back in.”

The taste and odor has been described as “earthy” or similar to a “dirt” scent and flavor.

“We hope it’s very, very temporary,” Siburt said. “But we have no idea yet until we get additional information.”

Wheeling has seven wells that provide about 50 percent of the city’s normal water intake capacity. The city serves treated water to customers throughout the city and in other communities in the county and beyond, including neighborhoods across the Pennsylvania border.

Shutting off the Ohio River intake completely would only be done in an emergency, Siburt said.

“We could shut the intake off and go on just wells, but I’m afraid we would have an issue with losing volume in the tanks, and heaven forbid we would have a fire or something like that that would drain a tank,” she said. “It would be hard to keep up.”