COUNCIL TOLD QUICK ACTION NEEDED ON WATER SYSTEM

Last July, Cape Girardeau water customers got a taste of possible things to come. They lived under a boil water order for two days after Mississippi River intake pumps stopped working.

One pump was awaiting repair, another broke on a Thursday and the third broke on a Friday. Water pressure dropped, and officials feared back siphonage and a contaminated water supply.

It wasn't a complete surprise, considering the intake system was installed in 1931. A constant stream of sand from the Mississippi quickly wears down equipment.

But July's boil water order may have been the first of many serious problems if a new water plant isn't built soon, Alliance Water Resources Manager Tom Taggart said Friday.

Taggart, along with engineers from the Kansas City firm Burns & McDonnell, spoke at the Cape Girardeau City Council's annual retreat. The city's water dilemma received much attention from councilmen.

Taggart said the city must act on construction plans soon to protect water customers. Councilman Tom Neumeyer asked about the urgency.

"If we sat around and did nothing, we will be maxed out in five years?" he said.

"You won't make it five years," Taggart said. "It will be two or three years before we hit the maximum."

Burns & McDonnell, whose engineers have completed several projects on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, was hired by the city to determine the best new water system.

Engineers already supervised the installation of a backup generator, to be operational in mid-August. They also plan to raise the intake structure a few feet over the flood levels reached in 1993, when the structure was submerged.

The permanent answer, however, is to stop using river water and turn to groundwater, engineer Jim McClish said. He suggested the city build a new plant and improve the existing plant. Eventually, 10 million gallons per day should be available from groundwater.

Water customers use about 4.5 million gallons a day now. The highest usage was 6.8 gallons on a summer day last year.

Groundwater is better, the engineers said, because its quality is always higher than river water and doesn't vary. Geological formations naturally filter out viruses, so fewer chemicals are needed. It also may be softened at the plant.

Initial cost estimates are $21,746,000 for new construction and another $2,248,000 annually for operation and maintenance costs. It would take 30 months to complete design work and construction.

Taggart said the money could be raised two ways, through a 59 percent rate increase or a 20-year, quarter-cent sales tax. He recommended the tax.

"A sales tax would impact customers far, far less than a rate increase," Taggart said. He added that some would save money when the need for water softening systems was eliminated.

Councilman Richard Eggimann suggested asking people to conserve water until a solution was reached. It wouldn't work, Taggart said, because asking people to conserve water actually makes them use more. They get into a hording mentality.

The council didn't discuss their ideas on the suggested sales tax, but Mayor Al Spradling said, if it were decided upon, the method of promotion should be the same as for the recent transportation sales tax.

Vision 2000, a group committed to improving the quality of life in Cape Girardeau, coordinated public information and input sessions on that tax.