In five months, Commerce officials will learn if their $75,000 investment in the city reservoir resolves a longstanding problem.
Wyatt Dinius and Matthew Stairs drove from SolarBee Inc.’s Dickinson, ND, headquarters to Commerce last week and installed three SolarBee solar mixers in the city’s reservoir.
The mixers will churn 30,000 gallons of water a minute in the 300-acre reservoir, killing the algae that causes bad-tasting water every spring when the shallow reservoir “turns over.”
This past spring’s episode was the worst on record. Restaurants at Banks Crossing had to purchase water because the city water was so bad. The problem usually lasts less than a week; last spring, it lasted more than 10 days.
It’s a problem throughout the Southeast for shallow reservoirs. Low nighttime temperatures make the surface water cold. That water sinks, forcing water on the bottom to rise, bringing dead algae with it. While the water is said to be safe to drink, its odor and taste discourage anyone from trying.
Dinius and Stairs towed a trailer from North Dakota containing the three 800-pound units, erected them on site and towed them to three specific locations in the deep end of the city reservoir.
Commerce is paying $55,000 for a one-year lease and paid $20,000 for last week’s installation. If the devices work as well as expected, the city will likely buy the devices, city manager Clarence Bryant reports.
Powered by an array of solar cells, the devices pump water up from lower levels of the reservoir through 36-inch hoses and release it at the surface. The process of circulating the water eliminates the algae, according to Dinius.
