The next step in the City of Bloomington’s ongoing efforts to address the foul odor and taste of its water supply will be to reduce algae levels in Lake Bloomington and Evergreen Lake.
The city council on Monday unanimously approved a $215,366 purchase of planktonic algae treatment for use in both reservoirs. Water Department Director Ed Andrews termed it “taking the fight to the lake.”
The purchase agreement with Northwater LLC will result in both reservoirs being treated with Cutrine Plus, an algae pesticide designed to reduce the bacterial levels.
“We have had a long-standing relationship with [Northwater] on watershed management,” said Andrews. “We interviewed three different firms that would assist in actually treating the algae at the lake from a traditional copper sulfate to Cutrine Plus, which is a more strategic treatment that minimizes the amount of disruption of the algae as it dies off.
“We have to be careful on the balancing act that we don’t have that open up and create a worse problem as it dies off in the lake.”
According to the staff memo to the council, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has taken samples from both lakes weekly and found traces of bacteria indicating the algal blooms. The levels are below amounts that would trigger any consumption restrictions, but they have been increasing.
The water department credited the algal bloom earlier this year to low water volume in the lakes, decreased flow from tributaries, increased levels of chlorophyll, and diminished precipitation in the 70,000-acre watershed.
Andrews said the application of the Cutrine Plus will be performed strategically at both lakes.
“It’s not just a broad-cast surface application. There’s draped injection lines coming off both of the back of that boat,” he said. “It’s GPS-controlled, so we’re not doubling up on passes and then metered as we make those applications and treatments out in the lake.”
Andrews said the use of powdered activated charcoal [PAC] to reduce the primary contaminants causing the taste and smell issues has been effective.
“Our removal efficiency continues to be very favorable,” he said. “The addition of PAC essentially doubled our removal efficiency on just the GAC-capped [granular activated charcoal] filters alone,” he said.
Street resurfacing; Karch appointment
During the nearly two-hour meeting, the council also voted to waive the formal bidding process and authorized the city staff to negotiate an agreement with Rowe Construction for the 2026 fiscal year general street resurfacing program.
“We are doing our resurfacing program focusing on some of our major roads. We’re focusing on arterials and collectors. And why we’re doing that is we’re working in cooperation — both last year and even before that, into this year — with the water department,” said Director of Engineering Jim Karch, who was officially given the permanent title earlier Monday after serving in an interim role since last month.
“The water department has a focus on lead service lines. They have a federal mandate; they need to address the lead service lines. Well, in the core part of town, if you look at a map, that’s where most of the lead service lines are at. So we’ve been as an engineering partnering with them to be able to stay out of that area so they can get their program addressed.”
Rowe is a division of United Contractors Midwest, the company in McLean County deemed capable of performing all the required resurfacing tasks. Karch said crews will be using a slurry asphalt sealing in some areas and a reclamite rejuvenating treatment in others.
“We’re trying to stretch the life of our local roads,” he said. “Local road life typically lasts longer than our arterials and collectors. Asphalt on the major roads fails sooner because of heavy truck traffic, the amount of cars. So we’re wanting to make sure we can stretch the life of local roads whenever we can.”
Karch also said sidewalks will be the “star of this year’s show” when it comes to infrastructure improvements.
“We have put a lot of emphasis on our sidewalks this year, and that’s to address the growing complaints that we had seen,” he said. “We had gotten up to 489 complaints in our backlog for our sidewalk program. So the percent of focus on the asphalt and concrete program has a disproportionate amount so we can catch up.”
Karch has been a part of Bloomington’s administrative staff since 2000, previously directing the Public Works Department.
“Jim’s leadership, expertise, and passion for public service make him the right choice to lead our Engineering Department,” City Manager Jeff Jurgens said in the media release announcing the move.
“Infrastructure is at the core of a strong city, and I look forward to building a team that delivers solutions in a way that’s effective, efficient, and responsive to our residents.” Karch said in the release.
Lutz Road annexations
As part of a lengthy consent agenda, the council approved a pair of annexation agreements for properties along Lutz Road on the city’s southwest side.
One of the agreements, with BBig Solar, LLC, will facilitate construction of a solar energy conversion facility over 17 acres near the intersection of Lutz and Greenwood Avenue.
The second agreement will allow Trinity Lutheran Church to pursue future improvement and expansion for its existing worship and educational campus at the northwestern terminus of Lutz.
Public hearings for both expansion agreements were held ahead of the consent agenda vote. No one from the public spoke during either hearing.
Development Services Director Kelly Pfeifer said the two agreements were “pretty much for the same parcel.”
“It’s two different contract purchasers, and so they’re two different annexation agreements,” said Pfeifer, noting there are no immediate plans for either project.
Pfeifer said Trinity has a contract in place to purchase about 4.6 acres on the northwest side of the Lutz-Greenwood intersection, and noted the current quality of Lutz is “seasonally substandard,” so future improvements would be necessary.
Other actions
Among other items approved on the consent agenda were:
- Putting $1.23 million in state motor fuel tax funds toward a series of improvements along Illinois 9 [Empire Street] between Carnahan Drive and Towanda Avenue, through an agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation;
- An agreement admitting the Bloomington Police Department as a participating agency in the Illinois Violent Crime Intelligence Task Force;
- Spending $214,000 to purchase an industrial generator for the rain forest building at Miller Park Zoo;
- An $86,500 agreement with JG Stewart Contractors to replace 4,000 square feet of substandard public sidewalks;
- An intergovernmental agreement with the Ecology Action Center for the household hazardous waste collection program;
- A final plat for a resubdivision of a lot at the former GKC Theaters site.
An item to dissolve the Property Maintenance Review Board and merge its functions with the Building Board of Appeals was approved unanimously after council member Jenna Kearns pulled it from the consent agenda for discussion.
Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus said the city’s Community Impact and Enhancement Department will work on outreach initiatives regarding tenants’ rights and other property issues moving forward.
“The way things were organized, it didn’t make the most sense to continue in that way. We’re going to keep doing the work,” said Tyus, noting the maintenance review board hadn’t met since 2020 and hadn’t heard an appeal since 2011.
The meeting also included three proclamations, recognizing Toastmasters International Day; Fair Housing Month in April; and Larry Carius, the late founder and operator of the popular Bloomington-Normal Restaurant Scene social media page.
