City management critical of estimates for improvements to MI2 water plant proposal

As the City of Cape Girardeau administration responded to MI2 operating system’s $109 million proposal to include a new water plant, it cited issues with MI2’s estimates for improvements.

Assistant city manager Trevor Pulley said with all the talk of the new water plant and improvements, the city “is still producing good water.” He also thanked MI2 for its presentation at the City Council meeting July 15.

Pulley said from what he has been told from two well drillers who helped install the city’s wells from 2011-12, they could not drill any deeper to find more source water.

“Both well companies were both in agreement with their engineers and with the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) saying ‘we could not go deeper,’” Pulley said.

While Pulley pointed this out at the council meeting, MI2 CEO Paul Mckee maintained he heard the opposite from well drillers he talked to and thinks deeper aquifers will provide better source water.

Pulley said he believes the city’s water source has improved over time. He also said different engineering studies the city has performed, including one from Crawford, Murphy and Tilly (CMT), have shown the city how to improve its water plant and better ways to treat its water, which it is now pursuing.

He said MI2’s presentation didn’t include distribution system improvements, including booster pump stations, high-priority water mains and other recommended water mains. While the presentation did include improvements for booster pump stations estimated at $8.2 million and high-priority water mains estimated at $32.6 million — which were nearly equal to their estimates for the city’s improvements — it didn’t include a number for the other recommended water mains in the city’s water system facility plan, estimated to cost $53.9 million.

McKee said MI2 didn’t put a number in terms of the other water mains because it would conduct a specific study throughout the system to determine which ones would need attention.

“We've already done, they've already done, engineering studies to tell us what high-priority water mains need to be done. So we already know which ones we don't need to spend more money on,” Pulley said.

Pulley also pointed out the cost for the water plant to get its desired 11 million gallons per day would be around $20 million. McKee said MI2 developed its number for the city’s current water improvement plan at $52.1 million going from the knowledge it gathered, citing the city’s current number for the water plant replacements as seemingly a “Band-Aid”.

Pulley said his numbers are “true numbers”.

Pulley said after the presentation the city doesn't need a brand-new building to get the water it needs.

“Our building is in great shape. We just need to be able to put new technology, new components in there so we can give the quantity (of water),” Pulley said.