Morro Bay Water Odor, Taste Strike Out

Morro Bay was hit earlier last month with an upsurge of elevated bad taste and odor in city water used to drink, wash,  or irrigate. But the "musty and/or earthy taste and odor" in the water reportedly had "greatly diminished" by the middle of last week due to carbon treatment of state water by the Central Coast Water Authority (DDWA), which provides that water to Morro Bay and other local communities that also may have experienced the same water problems.

City Hall is reporting no "discernible odor issues and only a slight off taste" from the city water consumed there now.

An estimate of how many Morro Bay residents still drink water out of the faucet was not immediately available, but it seems likely that fewer will do so after this taste and odor incident — the first in about 20 years — is experienced by water drinkers or heard about by them.

The widely-used processed water obtained through installed devices or water delivered by or obtained at local water companies offers a ready alternative to municipal water everywhere, although likely more costly than just using city water (even if processed with devices leased by companies).

Using such processed water could contribute to less water being used by the city, which is under pressure by Governor Jerry Brown to reduce city water usage by 20%. People could just opt for reducing the amount of water they drink, if their source is "earthy" or "musty" in taste. Whether the objectionable smell and taste in the water does lead to less water being used by residents remains to be seen. Drinking less water by almost any reasoning would be unhealthy for most people.

The question arises: is water unhealthy if it tastes or smells bad? Those characteristics in water, the Central Coast Water Authority (CCWA) stated, is a byproduct of blue-green algae called Methylisoborneol (MIB). Rob Livick, city public services director, said the algae are found in the surface water of the State Water Project, that is a series of reservoirs, open channels and pipes that supply water for agricultural and domestic purposes should be thoroughout California.

And that smell can be generated at very low concentrations of MIB. But the CCWA said it is "not a health concern."

"MIB is not known to be harmful to humans," Livick said.

But, he added, "taste and odor of water is a concern for both water purveyors and consumers. Taste and odor in themselves are not regulated health concerns for water. Although from a customer service standpoint water taste and odor are very important."

There is still such algae in Morro Bay’s water supply, the city website stated, and until temperatures cool and the algae is no longer a problem in the state supply there will continue to be an off taste to the state water supplied to Morro Bay. So the future for the quality of Morro Bay water remains uncertain as the state continues through the worst drought in 119 years.

Meantime, there is "nothing the city can control (odor and taste) locally," the city website stated.

The CCWA reported on the city web site on August 8 that "additional testing by CCWA earlier this week indicates the CCWA water treatment plant will be receiving raw water with a much higher MIB level early next week. CCWA is mobilizing a powder activated carbon (PAC) dosing system to help with additional treatment of the water leaving their plant. CCWA will increase testing and providing treatment for MIB until the levels drop to an acceptable level in the raw water source."

That raises this question: if the CCWA can resort to carbon treatment of state water when "contaminated" by algae, why can’t the CCWA use the treatment in advance to head off the objectionable smell and taste in the water they process before distributing it to communities like Morro Bay, rather than waiting until the smells and tastes have already set in?

Maybe they can.