GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — If you live in the city of Grand Rapids or Wyoming, you might have noticed an odor when you turn on your faucet.
13 On Your Side reached out to the Waste Water Treatment Plant this afternoon for an explanation. They explained it's an annual occurrence when Lake Michigan warms up and causes an algae die-off.
The city adds carbon to the water to neutralize the smell, but that doesn't always work.
"Periodically, we do get some spikes in the smell," said Wayne Jernberg, the Grand Rapids Water systems manager. "It's not harmful. People let their water stand or refrigerate their water after they say, fill a glass or something like that. The smell and the odor will go away."
On average, the Grand Rapids water system brings in 36 million gallons of water a day from Lake Michigan. In the summer, it can increase to more than 70 million gallons daily.
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