South County : Water District Problem With Algae Cleared Up

Ten days after the tap water in San Clemente and Capistrano Beach turned a pale shade of green, the water was clear again Sunday and Ray Woodside, general manager of the Tri-Cities Water District, vowed to try to keep it that way.

Over the last week, 15 to 20 angry customers have called the district to complain that their tap water was an unusual color, Woodside said. Though the water “looked bad,” it posed no health problems, district officials said, but they did notify the state health department that some algae had gotten into the water.

The water district serves 50,000 customers, but Woodside said he believed that only a fraction--those living closest to the district reservoir--were affected.

He traced the problem to a Tri-Cities renovation project that began in mid-April. At that time, the district took the cover off its 48-million-gallon reservoir so it could install a new liner. The reservoir is expected to remain uncovered until October, he said.

For several weeks, “everything was real good,” Woodside said. Then the weather warmed up and the algae “took us by surprise. We got a little bit of algae in the bottom that kind of mixed up with the water.”

Chlorine was added to the reservoir, and reservoir water was blended with water coming directly from the Metropolitan Water District. Woodside said he believes the algae problem is under control.