Alliance Water, City of Cape make repairs to well water pump

Alliance Water Resources local manager Jonathan Ridings and other workers stand on top of one of the City of Cape Girardeau's wells while they finish installing a new pump motor Wednesday afternoon, May 22, in Cape Girardeau County.

Nathan Gladden ~ ngladden@semissourian.com

Alliance Water Resources and the City of Cape Girardeau replaced a broken pump motor for one of the city’s wells Wednesday, May 22.

The pump was repaired by Wednesday evening, according to the City of Cape Girardeau.

Alliance Water Resources local manager Jonathan Ridings said the broken motor on the pump was noticed after the Cape Rock Water Treatment Plant operator realized flows had dropped significantly. He said after some troubleshooting the problem was determined to be one of the well’s pump motors.

“That pump we actually received May 4 of last year, so it’s not an old pump,” Ridings said.

He said while they pulled water from other wells, the well with the broken pump motor produced the “best water”. In a May 8 Southeast Missourian article, Ridings pointed out that “one by one” their wells’ source water is becoming worse, which causes a need for more treatment and a loss for more because of safety concerns.

The city’s four wells are located off South Kingshighway in South Cape Girardeau County.

Ridings said Alliance had a spare motor to replace the current one. He said the fact they will have no spare while their old pump motor is getting fixed is a “big concern”.

Ridings said he hopes the repair and rebuilding of the broken motor will come at a lesser cost since it’s new but they currently don’t know. He said they should be told what caused the break in the motor by Friday, May 24.

Ridings said while Alliance had to change the ways of treating the water while the pump motor was down, he did not anticipate any boil-water orders having to be issued. While those weren’t expected, Ridings did say that if customers experience discoloration in their water, Alliance and the city want to know. Issues may be reported on the City of Cape Girardeau’s website — www.cityofcapegirardeau.org.

According to the City of Cape Girardeau, the repairs were successful and water remains safe to use normally.