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Council waives bidding to buy gas chromatograph as water department moves to speed taste-and-odor testing
Summary
Bloomington authorized a waiver of formal bidding and approved a purchase agreement to buy a gas chromatograph for $163,991.10 to run geosmin/MIB tests in-house, part of city efforts to address recent taste-and-odor reports tied to lake source changes.
The Bloomington City Council approved a resolution waiving formal bidding requirements and authorized the city manager to enter an agreement to purchase a gas chromatograph for $163,991.10 from Midwest Lab Solutions to allow in-house testing for taste-and-odor compounds affecting the drinking water supply.
Water Director Ed Andrews told council the city has met all state and federal safe-drinking-water parameters but has received multiple complaints about taste and odor tied to elevated geosmin and MIB levels after the system switched water sources because of falling lake levels. Andrews said current laboratory testing is performed off-site (samples sent to Eurofins in South Bend, Indiana) and turnaround takes almost a week. The gas chromatograph would provide same-day results (individual tests in roughly 20–30 minutes), enabling faster operational decisions.
Andrews described additional steps under consideration: reintroducing a pumped powdered activated carbon (PAC) feed system (a silo-fed system rather than the older manual-bag system) to treat peaks in taste-and-odor compounds. He said the PAC upgrade was included in the draft budget and that the total PAC system project—equipment plus installation—was expected to be in the ballpark of the budgeted amount (staff cited equipment costs of roughly $600,000–$700,000 and total project costs near $1 million including construction). He said lead times for PAC equipment can be long and that his intent is to return to council with procurement plans for the PAC silo.
Councilmembers asked several technical and operational questions: Kearns confirmed both lakes contributed to the taste-and-odor problems and that Evergreen typically tracks higher; a councilmember asked whether the in-house instrument would reduce recurring lab costs (staff said the city would still send periodic QA samples off-site and incur calibration/lab service costs but would eliminate weekly sample turnaround delays and recurring $800-ish costs per three-sample set); others asked about likely timeframes to get the PAC system online (staff estimated 12–18 months lead time on major equipment).
A councilmember moved to waive the formal bidding process and approve purchase; the motion was seconded and the council approved the waiver and purchase. The mayor and city manager thanked Water Department staff for their work; staff said the water is safe to drink and that the equipment is intended to improve response time and messaging while more durable treatment upgrades are pursued.
