(A picture tweeted by Bountiful City, explaining that the green water is not harmful.)
BOUNTIFUL – City leaders in Bountiful are telling everyone not to worry about the water… even if it’s a little greener than people would like it to be.
As people in Bountiful turn on their taps, they may be in for a bit of a surprise. City leaders say the water may have a green tint, but, Bountiful Water Department Director Kraig Christensen says there is one main thing people need to know.
He says, “The water is safe. It is fine. All it is is it’s not aesthetically pleasing to the eye.”
The water comes from the exact same source that people in Bountiful have been drinking from since 1986, so why has it been green in recent years? Christensen says they’ve had to put water from their new treatment plant into the system so they don’t overwhelm the wells they get drinking water from.
“Because of drought conditions that are going to be happening, we’re trying to conserve the aquifers that our wells draw from,” according to Christensen.
The green color comes from the vegetation coming down with the snowmelt. In previous years, their older treatment plant used a charcoal filtration system which made the water more clear. However, the city has been using a new treatment plant system since 2018 that meets heightened environmental standards, and that new system doesn’t filter out ugly colors.
“That is an ultra-filtration treatment plant that does not utilize that charcoal any more. So, since this treatment plant has been online, it has happened every spring,” Christensen says.
Christensen says the EPA requires drinking water to fall within certain safety standards when it comes to things like bacteria, chlorine and fluoride levels. However, he says they don’t require color to be filtered out of water. The department has sent samples to be checked by water quality officials in Davis County, and everything appears to be within limits.
He says, “The samples that we pulled on Monday, they’re all clear.”
The green tint could be in the water for the next couple of weeks when the snowmelt runoff stops, or if they introduce more well water into their culinary system.