Adrian officials cite spikes in lake compounds for strong taste, odor in tap water; town hall to be scheduled

Acting City Administrator Will Sadler told the Adrian City Commission on June 1 that two organic compounds in the city’s lake — identified in the presentation as MIB and geosmin — are the primary cause of this spring’s strong taste and odor complaints, and that the city is taking immediate and medium-term steps to reduce residents’ exposure.

Sadler said the city’s monitoring shows periodic spikes that can be extremely noticeable even when wellwater makes up a large share of the blend. “There are two main compounds, organic compounds that thrive in the lake that are the culprits of our issues,” he said, noting the city tracks concentrations in parts per trillion. Sadler told the commission the city uses a target of about 10 parts per trillion but experienced peaks “over 800 parts per trillion” last year and close to that level this spring.

The MIB and geosmin events coincided with an extended outage of one of Adrian’s main producing wells, Sadler said. The well has been down roughly five weeks for motor, pump and wiring repairs and is expected to be returned to service after disinfection and two negative bacteriological samples; staff expected to put the well back into service the Wednesday following the meeting.

To blunt the taste-and-odor problem, Sadler said the city is maximizing production from available wells (currently four exist), increasing the share of groundwater in the treated blend, and sampling weekly until the trends improve. He said the city is also working with Eagle (the district engineer/compliance partner) to schedule a public town hall meeting in the next two to three weeks so residents can review data and ask questions; the city posts monthly plant operating reports and water-quality data at adriancity.com.

Commissioners and residents pressed for a longer-term plan. Sadler said Adrian has limited groundwater resources, that adding capacity is constrained by well-field yield limits, and that drilling an additional standby well is being pursued with Eagle; the staff estimate for drilling a well is in the neighborhood of $500,000 and the project is at least a year away. More aggressive treatment options such as large reverse-osmosis systems would cost far more: during the discussion one participant estimated the capital cost for a plant-scale RO system could be in the multi‑million‑dollar range (one figure mentioned was about $15 million), not including operating and reject‑water handling costs.

Residents urged transparency and stronger steps. “The water smells and it tastes horrible,” one commenter said during general public comment, and another speaker identified the tap water as “contaminated” and asked why the city had not pursued SRF grants or loans. Sadler replied that the city submits required reports to the state, is posting monthly operating reports online, and will work with Eagle to set a town hall date and provide more timely public explanations of sampling results.

Next steps: staff will complete disinfection and testing to return the out-of-service well to operation, continue weekly sampling for MIB and geosmin until concentrations fall, coordinate a public town hall with Eagle staff within two to three weeks, and return to the commission with updated monitoring data and any recommended funding options for medium- and long-term infrastructure changes.