Algae crisis over, Marion city administrator says
Staff writer
Marion City Administrator David Mayfield said Monday, "No contaminated water ever went into the Marion water plant, and none was sent out" to residents.
He was speaking about the critical situation that developed over the weekend because of some anabaena algae discovered in Marion Reservoir, from which Hillsboro, Marion and Peabody all customarily draw their water.
A timeline from Mayfield:
"At 11 a.m. Friday I received a call from Burt Zerr at KDHE (the Kansas Department of Health and Environment). He said a blue algae had been discovered Thursday at the reservoir. It was hand-delivered to Topeka Friday morning.
"We were told that Marion needed to be prepared to institute its emergency water plan
"Waldo said he'd been contacted by Neil Whitaker (Corps of Engineers ranger at Marion Reservoir), who told him 63 hundredths of an inch of rain had been received Thursday night at the reservoir, and the anabaena algae had disappeared.
"Waldo then said, 'I think the crisis may be over.' We had plenty of water on hand, stored, Friday, and didn't need to draw any (from the reservoir).
"If we HAD gone to 'emergency' status, we would not have had to do so until late Sunday or sometime Monday. On Saturday we went out to look at the water, and did not find any anabaena.
"It had all dissipated at that time. Rain and wave action get rid of it. The water has to be calm and clear, with bright sunshine, I'm told. The pH has to be just right. We had wind and waves Friday and Saturday."
The Corps of Engineers checks the water at least twice daily and will call the cities if they see any anabaena again. "It could come back right away, who knows?," said Mayfield.
Marion began pumping from the reservoir again on Sunday. "KDHE never told us not to take water from the reservoir," Mayfield said.
Water goes into a clear well for temporary storage, then is pumped into the Marion water towers, he added. "All three (storage areas) were full Friday — we had a two-day supply. And water is tested hourly at the Marion water plant," he said.
If water containing anabaena is boiled, it smells bad, Mayfield said. That means the algae is present. Toxins, if present, are released when the algae dies.
Marion's emergency plan includes instituting conservation measures, as Hillsboro did over the weekend, and drawing water from Luta Creek. "Or we could buy water from Rural Water District No. 4," he said.
It would take only two to three hours to get the emergency plan going, Mayfield said.
"This is a wake-up call for us, no doubt about it. We need a setup where we can draw from Luta any time we need to, without setting up temporary hoses and pumps," Mayfield said.
A city-owned well eight miles north near Antelope can pump water into Clear Creek, and from there it flows into Luta Creek, he said.
"Maybe it was luck on our part that everything was full when KDHE called us Friday. But the crisis was over Friday, according to a KDHE official.
"No contaminated water ever went into the Marion water plant, and none was sent out," Mayfield said.
