{"id":4895,"date":"2026-08-19T17:58:27","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lenaweevoice.com\/?p=4895"},"modified":"2026-08-19T17:58:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T22:58:29","slug":"utilities-director-gives-update-on-water-treatment-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lenaweevoice.com\/staging\/7542\/2026\/08\/19\/utilities-director-gives-update-on-water-treatment-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Utilities director gives update on water treatment options"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Lake
Lake Adrian is pictured in this photo from June.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

ADRIAN \u2014 Utilities director and acting city administrator Will Sadler gave Adrian city commissioners updated cost estimates on some of the options for upgrading Adrian\u2019s water treatment plant at the Aug. 17 commission meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission has been looking for ways to address persistent taste and odor complaints stemming from the organic compounds 2-Methylisoborneol and geosmin, which are created by algae in Lake Adrian. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although most Adrian city water comes from a wellfield on Hamilton Highway, those wells aren\u2019t able to fulfill all of the city\u2019s needs, so the city is still partially reliant on Lake Adrian, a manmade reservoir that was created by damming Wolf Creek about 85 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadler said the equipment for ozone or advanced oxidation treatment would cost between $6.5 million and $8 million to purchase and install, depending on what option the city chose. In ozone treatment, ozone gas, a powerful oxidizing agent, is introduced into the water, where it dissolves and reacts with contaminants. Advanced oxidation is similar, but involves combining ozone treatment with other methods such as hydrogen peroxide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said Monroe uses advanced oxidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve used this for a long time,\u201d Sadler said, \u201cand their taste and odor complaints, they say, are few and far between.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cost could be spread out over 20 or 30 years, he said, and there\u2019s a possibility of getting partially-forgivable loans from a state revolving fund to help pay for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another strategy, reverse osmosis, would cost at least $25 million, Sadler said. He described that option as \u201creally reaching.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadler noted that in addition to the cost to get a new treatment method up and running, the city will need to figure out annual operating costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose are all things that we can get answers to before we make a decision,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadler said in order to pursue state funding, the city would need to conduct a pilot study. Ironically, to have a successful pilot study, the city would need to hope for poor conditions in the lake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt would have to be done at a certain time of year, because as we know the taste and odor is really bad in the spring and really bad in the fall, so we\u2019d have to time it right,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we would have to hope for a crappy lake, even though we don\u2019t want to do that. But you\u2019d want that because you want to get good data.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadler said he views the state revolving fund as a more likely source of funding than grants, because although it is competitive, the available grants are even more competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To apply for money from the revolving fund, the city would need to submit a notice of intent by Nov. 1, and then have a project plan completed by late spring. Sadler said the city has been scoring well on revolving loan fund applications in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve scored very well lately, so that\u2019s good,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we do score well, then they\u2019ll make a decision probably late summer or early fall of next year, and that\u2019s when the real work starts. That\u2019s when we start design, and we\u2019ll have probably about eight to nine months to do design work and get everything turned in for construction to start in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadler also discussed the city\u2019s attempts to get permission for a fifth well at the Hamilton Highway wellfield. Although a fifth well would be a backup for when one of the other four is offline for maintenance or repairs, Sadler said the state will probably not allow five wells to all be pumping at the same time, due to the capacity of the aquifer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being able to only use groundwater would be ideal, Sadler said, but \u201cwe\u2019re not going to get rid of the lake. We just have to face that. We\u2019re going to have that lake, so we need to figure out how to treat that better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other discussion:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Mary Roberts reported on her investigation into the possibility of getting a state legislative appropriation for water improvements. In the last state budget, she said, only three proposals for water projects were successful. She said getting a legislative earmark would be \u201ca huge challenge,\u201d and that if the city wants to pursue it, lobbying local representatives in Lansing will be essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commissioner Bob Behnke said water treatment doesn\u2019t fix the underlying problem of phosphorus and nitrogen runoff from upstream, which leads to algae growth. He said Michigan and Ohio have looser regulations on Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) than Indiana, and that contributes to the problem. Commissioner Matt Schwartz said he was \u201cabsolutely astounded\u201d by the information Behnke had shared about the difference between Michigan and Indiana laws, and that while local governments can\u2019t control that, the city should try to influence state decisions that affect city water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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