Better tasting Brainerd water should be flowing though system next week

If all goes as planned, by early next week Brainerd residents will notice the smell and taste of their tap water returning to normal.

Brainerd Public Utilities Superintendent Tom Phelps on Thursday said the city continues to chlorinate its water supply in order to disinfect against total coliform bacteria detected Aug. 21 in the water system near a south Brainerd construction site.

He said the utility plans to start flushing the chlorine out of the system early next week.

Darwin Cole, Brainerd Public Utilities water supervisor, said residents should start noticing a difference in the water's taste and smell soon after crews start flushing the system through fire hydrants.

"As we turn that over it will be like night and day in a sense," Cole said.

The expectation is that the Minnesota Department of Health will be testing the water on Thursday, Phelps said. The test takes 24 hours to conduct.

Total coliform bacteria are generally not harmful themselves, are naturally present in the environment and are used as an indicator that other potentially harmful bacteria may be present. However, more harmful bacteria such as fecal coliform or E. coli were not found during testing of Brainerd's water.

The Minnesota Department of Health considers total coliform bacteria to be a non-acute violation that doesn't pose a health risk to residents.

However, as a precaution, people with compromised immune systems - young children, the elderly or people with health issues - or people who are concerned about the water can seek other alternatives, such as bottled water or free filtered and tested water in the blue tanks at the Water Treatment Plant on East River Road near Kiwanis Park in Brainerd.

MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.