MCCLURE-EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU WATER SYSTEM PLANS EXPANSION

MCCLURE, Ill. -- Forty to 50 families will be added to the McClure-East Cape Girardeau water system next year.

"We'll be extending water lines several miles," said Clyde "Bud" Pearce Jr., chairman of the water district. "We'll go north from McClure to the Union County line, and south to Gale."

Pearce's comments followed announcement that the district has been approved for a $400,000 grant through the Community Development Assistance Program.

The district's water-treatment plant is at McClure. It includes a 100,000-gallon storage tank at East Cape Girardeau.

"The expansion of the water line will serve almost the entire McClure and East Cape area that encompasses our water district," said Pearce. He said the district was in the process of finalizing easements for the pipelines.

"We should be advertising for bids within the next 45 to 60 days," said Pearce.

Construction of water lines and sewer services will get under way in a number of other Southern Illinois communities by early spring.

A long list of communities have been awarded various amounts of funding for water and sewer improvements, including Mill Creek, which will receive $400,000 to establish a new water system; Pulaski, which will receive $400,000 to expand its water system; and Alexander County, which will get $400,000 for a future water connection system.

"This is great news for our area," said a Mill Creek village official. "We need a water system."

Mill Creek residents have been depending on water wells and cisterns for water. The funds will allow the community to install water pipes north to hook into an existing water system about eight miles to the north, and later to hook into SouthWater Inc., a proposed regional water-treatment system that will serve a number of communities.

SouthWater Inc. is a subsidiary of Southern Illinois Electric Co-op, Dongola.

"SouthWater is in its early stages of planning," said Larry Lovell, general manager at the electric co-op. "But what we're looking at is a state-of-the-art water-treatment system, which would provide water to communities and individuals in the area."

The plant will be in the Tamms-Ullin area, said Lovell. "We hope to have everything ready to start next year."

The Alexander County Water District will eventually hook into SouthWater, said Doris Maze, who heads the Alexander Water District and the Alexander County Sanitary District, which is in the process of finding property north of Olive Branch, along Route 3, for installing a sewerage lagoon.

"We have a water district in the Olive Branch area," said Maze. "But we don't have a sewer system."

The lagoon project is expected to cost about $2.2 million.

Funds totaling $1.4 million have been approved for the project, $400,000 from the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs and $1 million from Farmers Home Administration.

Maze said the remaining $800,000 will be obtained from a loan.

"All we're waiting for is a location," said Maze. "We'd like to start construction next spring."