Mansfield prepped to use peroxide to battle future harmful algal blooms at Clearfork Reservoir

MANSFIELD — One of the same ingredients found in many toothpastes is used when the Clearfork Reservoir experiences harmful algal blooms.

City of Mansfield Public Works Director Louis Andres said Wednesday evening that hydrogen peroxide can be deployed when HABs again develop in the reservoir, which supplies 40 percent of the community’s daily drinking water.

“We did have a significant bloom two years ago. Usually that happens when we have low water coming in (along with) high temperatures. That was an ideal storm that we had in June of two years ago,” Andres said during a City Council public utilities committee meeting.

He said the city has put protocols into place since that incident at the reservoir, a 4.4-billion gallon body of water that covers 997 surface acres.

“We are testing on a regular basis for HABs. We also have a treatment that’s been approved by the EPA, which is peroxide. If you think about peroxide, it’s what you put in your toothpaste to whiten your teeth,” Andres said.

He said peroxide is used in pellet form and dispensed through the water by prop wash from a boat motor.

“As soon as the peroxide hits the algae cells, they explode and die. That’s the treatment that we’re using and that’s been very successful, so we have that in place now,” Andres said.

Peroxide in toothpaste, specifically hydrogen peroxide, acts as a bleaching agent to remove both surface and deep enamel stains for whiter teeth.

(Below is a video produced six years ago by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center showing peroxide testing on a Florida lake.)

The committee meeting was requested by Mansfield attorney Eric Miller, who raised concerns about HABs during a council meeting April 21 when lawmakers went over a study that found the Clearfork Reservoir would be a dependable source of drinking water in Mansfield for at least the next 50 years

Miller helped lead the successful election effort behind the Water Main Initiative now replacing aging water mains around the city.

“We recognized the Water Main Initiative as a precursor to being able to address the reservoir. We’re very grateful that the administration jumped right on this and commissioned this study. It was certainly very thorough, 123-page study, and I got the opportunity to read it when it became available to the city,” Miller told lawmakers in April.

The citizen group concerns are about the quality of the water, as much as they are the quantity.

According to the Ohio Dept. of Health, HABs “often occur when there is a shallow body of fresh water, warm temperatures, sunlight, and large amounts of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) in the water. Phosphorus and nitrogen are commonly found in animal and human wastes and fertilizers. Some HABs look like thick mats, or scum, on the surface of the water. HABs can vary in color, including bluish-green, bright green, or even red or maroon.”

(Below are examples of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) from the Ohio Dept. of Health website.)

Such HABs have impacted the western basin of Lake Erie in Maumee Bay and have been a recurring problem at Grand Lake St. Marys in Auglaize/Mercer counties, impacting the water supply in Celina.

The citizen group in April asked the utilities committee to schedule a hearing to take testimony from experts regarding HABs to hear from citizens expressing views on the need for additional alternative measures to protect the city’s long-term water supply.

On Wednesday morning, Miller sent council members an email saying the committee meeting was no longer needed.

“I had a good conversation with Louie Andres this morning. I appreciate that he will arrange a meeting with Emily Arthur, an employee of the Ohio Environmental Council, whose focus over the last four years has been community water supply issues,” Miller wrote.

Arthur is the agriculture and water manager for the OEC, formed 55 years ago. According to the OEC website, “The Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) has advocated for a healthier environment for all who call Ohio home. Through persistence and partnership, the OEC has made progress to address the most pressing environmental and climate issues facing Ohio communities. From resounding victories at the ballot box to important policy and legal wins, our advocacy and engagement efforts are making a difference.”

“Louie and I will arrange for her to come to a meeting at his office to explore the possibility and affordability of further preventative action that the City of Mansfield can take with regard to HAB’s at the Clearfork Reservoir,” Miller wrote.

He said interested City Council members would be invited to attend that meeting, which “will be arranged in conjunction with the citizens’ group concerned with the reservoir.”

“This fulfills the request I submitted to your committee a month ago. There is no cost to the city to conduct this meeting. Ms. Arthur may or may not recommend further study by other experts,” Miller wrote in his email.

The OEC, on its website, advocates for aggressive nutrient reduction, particularly phosphorus, to combat harmful algae blooms.

“While hydrogen peroxide is a treatment method often used in public water systems to break down toxins during a bloom, the OEC pushes for long-term watershed management to prevent blooms entirely,” the OEC said in 2023.

Andres confirmed he met Wednesday with Miller.

“One of the things that we wanted to do, particularly with the water supply, is we wanted to make sure that we were meeting all the EPA standards. But also, we want to make sure that we have taken the recommendations from from (Stantec Consulting Services) that talked about the sedimentation and make sure we implemented some safeguards to make sure that we have safe drinking water,” he said.

Andres also said the city is reconditioning two of its water wells that are not currently in operation, expanding supply not now available. That would be helpful if HABs develop in the reservoir, he said.

“We’ll be able to shut down the reservoir if need be and rely solely on our wells (which currently supply 60 percent of the city’s water.) We have capacity to meet our needs and a little bit more over that, so that way we have a backup if for some reason we cannot use the water from the reservoir,” Andres said.

“We’re being proactive. We have these things together and I think what we’re doing is going to help us if we do have a situation we’re prepared to deal with it,” he said.