How do water treatment plants deal with blue-green algae?
While most municipal drinking water treatment plants with surface water supplies do not regularly monitor for algal toxins, they do use treatment techniques that would remove the toxins if they were present. Conventional water treatment facilities can remove the cells of algae and other growing organisms by adding chemicals that bind them together. As the cells clump together, they become heavier and fall to the bottom of settling basins. Additional removal is obtained by filtration and through the use of activated charcoal. Studies conducted by scientists from the University of Wisconsin and the State Laboratory of Hygiene in the late 1990s did not detect any significant concentrations of algal toxins in the finished drinking water of several communities using Lake Winnebago as their water supply.
