City of Tyler: Construction at Golden Road Water Treatment Plant on schedule

TYLER, TX (KLTV) - The City of Tyler provided an update to construction that is ongoing at the Golden Road Water Treatment Plant.

UPDATE 2-22: Construction at the Golden Road Water Treatment Plant is progressing on schedule, per the timeline below. Additionaly, our testing shows that Geosnim levels are falling, meaning we should start to notice less odor and taste during the next few days. Residents who are still experiencing strong "earthy" taste and odor are encouraged to contact Tyler's Water Service Center at (903) 531-1285.

UPDATE 2-15: The Golden Road Water Treatment Plant remains offline as we work to finish construction. At present, we are estimating approximately four weeks before the plant can be brought back online provided all work proceeds without complication. To further minimize the impact of the Geosmin compound on water taste and odor during this time, staff continues to feed the maximum amount of Ozone and powdered activated carbon at the Lake Palestine Water Treatment facility and crews are flushing hydrants across the city to move this treated water through the system quickly. If you are experiencing strong “earthy” taste and odor in your area, please contact Tyler’s Water Service Center at (903) 531-1285 to report your location. We will provide regular updates each Friday until the Golden Road Water Treatment Plant is back online and report new information or milestones as they occur.

Background: On Monday, Feb. 4, the Golden Road Water Treatment Plant was taken offline as part of ongoing construction to the plant, leaving the Lake Palestine Water Treatment plant the sole provider of treated water to our system this past week.

During this same time period, we experienced a spike in Geosmin, a taste and odor compound, coming from Lake Palestine to our Lake Palestine Water Treatment Plant. Geosmin is non-toxic and safe to consume. It typically produces an earthy odor and is naturally present in some foods such as beets, spinach and mushrooms.

Typically, both water treatment plants operating at the same time automatically minimizes the amount of detectable Geosmin.

Staff is feeding the maximum amount of Ozone and PAC (powdered activated carbon) at the Lake Palestine Water Treatment Plant to minimize the impact. We are seeing 93 percent removal of the Geosmin compound between the raw water sample and the treated samples. Geosmin is detectable by humans at a very low taste and odor threshold, which is why it is treated for year-round.

Due to the low demand for water this time of year, this was the optimum time to take the Golden Road Water Treatment Plant offline to finish construction. We will be bring the Golden Road treatment plant back on-line as soon as possible. The blending of the water will aid in eliminating the taste and odor issues and improvement should be noticed within 72 hours of the plant coming back online.