Managing taste and odor problems in a eutrophic drinking water reservoir

Drinking water for the City of Wichita, KS is provided by Cheney Reservoir, a eutrophic impoundment constructed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in 1962. Ibis large, shallow reservoir has a mean depth of 5.3 meters and a surface area of 40 km(2). Numerous reports of undesirable taste and odor in drinking water were received by the City of Wichita Water and Sewer Department in the early 1990's, and periodic episodes of objectionable tastes and odor have occurred up through fall 2001. An intensive limnological sampling program was carried out from August 1999-October 2000, and simultaneous measurements of two taste and odor-causing compounds (geosmin and methylisoborneol) in the lakewater were also performed. These data were used to construct empirical, phosphorus-based water quality management recommendations designed to help reduce the likelihood of objectionable taste and odor events in Cheney Reservoir. The general framework developed here should also be applicable to other waterbodies exhibiting taste and odor-related problems.