Auburn City Council on Thursday voted unanimously in favor of a resolution allowing for additional testing of the city’s water filtration plant microcystin removal system.
Council authorized a change order of $25,500 for GHD of Syracuse to conduct the tests. On FLX Morning, City Clerk Chuck Mason said that the city’s filtration system has been effective so far, but these new tests hope to determine how effective the system will be if large amounts of microcystins become present in the water.
“[Crews will] try to do some testing over these next few weeks and months that will test how high the microcystin count can go and the powder activated carbon remove those microcystins.”
Mason went on to explain that samples will be taken directly from harmful algal blooms on Owasco Lake for testing. While some will be tested immediately, other samples will be frozen for testing in the winter when there will be more time for in-depth research.
As part of the resolution, Council is asking New York State to help pay for testing costs as it claims Owasco Lake Watershed conditions are beyond its control.
