Cape reaps benefits from $17.5 million water work

Despite numerous engineering and construction problems, the $17.5 million Cape Rock water plant expansion project began to pay off this week as a record 7.1 million gallons of water were supplied to the city on Thursday by only one plant.

Never before has the water plant been able to distribute so much to the city without dipping into its reserve supply or using its second plant, located near the Diversion Channel and Interstate 55. Had the same hot and dry conditions occurred two years ago, the city would have asked its residents to conserve water.

But thanks to 10 new wells drilled on the banks of the Mississippi River and other improvements to old structures, the city is having no trouble meeting a previously system-taxing demand.

"We were living on such a razor's edge before," said water system manager Kevin Priester. "You had a 70-something-year-old treatment plant trying to put out a bulk of water, and when it got dry you had to ask for voluntary conservation. We're curious to see exactly how high the demand will go."

Voters passed a bond issue in 1996 and began paying a quarter-cent sales tax in 1997 to pay off the $17.5 million bond issue to cover the cost of the new water-treatment plant.

Some finishing construction, mainly remodeling work on the interior of buildings, is still ongoing 17 months later than the expected finishing date.

The contractors, Huffman Inc. of Poplar Bluff, and the engineering firm, Burns & McDonnell of St. Louis, have pointed fingers at each other for missing the deadline.

After the completion of the project, the city will review the entire construction process to see when and how delays were created and by whom.

The city can charge $1,000 per day for each day after Feb. 18, 2002, which was 559 days ago. The newest target date for the completion of the project is the end of August, which would push the liquidated damages to about $600,000.

On top of that problem, the production of the 10 new wells came up short of the ultimate goal, which is for the water plant to draw all of its water from the wells and none from the river.

Currently, the water plant is using both water sources and still meeting the demands of summer.

Interim city manager Doug Leslie said city management officials will meet with representatives from the Brotcke Well & Pump Engineering firm next week to go over the preliminary results of a $200,000 engineering study approved by the city council in May, which included the drilling of two test wells.

"It looks like there is a good quantity of water north of the plant," Leslie said.

Priester said once the well system is set up, the plant can be run more efficiently and will be more prepared to handle growth.

Even with all the problems, the improvements are making work at the water treatment plant much easier.

The improved plant processes an annual average of 6 million gallons of water a day. Before the improvements, it could handle only about 4.2 million gallons daily.

The city's second water plant no longer has to be used every day to supplement the Cape Rock plant. In years past, the second plant would have to process about 1.5 million gallons per day and operate 24 hours a day during the summer months. That stretched the water department thin in terms of labor. The second plant could be used this summer as a backup, but it wasn't needed Thursday.

"The difference is night and day as far as the stress on the plants and the whole water system," he said. "It's been a long road, but we're starting to reap the benefits now. It was a sorely needed project and you can tell that by the water we're putting out now."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635