New Scott City water plant nearly ready

Four years after residents passed a bond for its construction, the Scott City Water Treatment Plant is scheduled to begin doubling the city's water treatment capacity next month.

When in service, the new plant will be able to treat up to twice as much water per minute as the five deep wells currently in use. Scott City residents hope it will be worth the delays and higher-than-expected cost to the city.

At the time of its groundbreaking in January 2003, the plant south of Nash Road off the East Outer Road of Interstate 55 was expected to open a year later but problems with valve parts delayed construction, said Rich Cochran, a senior engineer for the city's engineers, Waters Engineering of Sikeston, Mo. But the rest of the building project went smoothly.

The same cannot be said for the events leading up to the plant's construction.

Couldn't meet demand

Around 2000, the city's engineers recommended a new water treatment facility be built. The city relied on its five deep wells to provide water then treated at the three water storage tank sites. Residents suffered from low water pressure.

"The wells could not pump enough water to keep up with the demands of Scott City," said Scott City administrator Ron Eskew.

In addition, when they were overpumped, the wells produced turbid water. Boil-water orders occasionally had be issued.

The fifth well added in 2000 required two drillings before a suitable water source was found. With the high cost behind the hit-or-miss operation of drilling new wells, Cochran said, "it made more sense to build a treatment plant" to serve as a long-term solution.

Voters approved a $2.2 million bond issue in 2000 to pay for the treatment plant.

Then the problems began.

Had to borrow money

An approval from the state Department of Natural Resources that was supposed to take up to 90 days took a year, delaying the start of the project. When construction bids were received in October 2002, there were only four. The lowest bid totaled $750,000 more than the engineer's estimate.

A project that was estimated to cost $2.2 million was now going to cost closer to $3 million. In order to keep their promise of not raising water rates, the city borrowed the needed money through a 20-year lend-lease loan.

Scott City residents Tammy Kiplinger and Olive Corn look forward to the new water treatment plant.

Kiplinger has not had tap water in the four years that she has lived in Scott City, she said, even though she has a water softener.

"I know you can" drink it, she said, "but when you get to boiling it and you let it sit, you get particles and stuff at the bottom."

Kiplinger has been buying bottled water ever since she moved into the area. Her water heater has also been a casualty of poor water quality, which at 5 years old is barely working. She hopes to install a new one after the new water treatment plant is functioning.

Kiplinger is willing to endure the hassles of boiled-water orders for the sake of drinkable water, she said.

"I won't have to buy my own," she said. "I can get it straight from my own tap, my own house. It'll be a happier time for me, a lot less expensive."

Olive Corn has not liked the taste of her water for the 11 years that she has lived in Scott City, even though she too has a water softener.

"They keep saying something that it's been fixed and that it's doing well, but I can't tell the difference," she said.

Fixing the taste

Corn has been remedying the taste of the water by keeping it refrigerated or putting ice in it. She has also noticed the hard water has lightly affected her laundry.

"If I did not have the softener, I believe I would have some rust areas, some really hard spots," Corn said, citing that her biggest clue was a orange ring around her washer that did not exist while she lived in Chaffee, Mo.

Scott City residents Tanya Davis and Nancy Caldwell both like the idea of having a greater quantity of better water available in Scott City, but they have never been bothered by water concerns.

Neither knew of the new water treatment plant, nor had they serious complaints about the city's current water system

They have not been very concerned about the boil-water days. While she considers them an inconvenience, Davis said she is used to them. "I've lived here forever," she said.

Caldwell could not recall having too many days in the past year when the water needed to be boiled.

"I'm sure it's worth it if they spend the money" on the new plant, Caldwell said. "There's a lot of water usage."

'Very modern'

Cochran said people can expect the new water treatment facility to "give them an adequate supply of water, so in the summer months they won't have to overpump the wells. They will also have a better quality of water."

"It's very modern and technological," Eskew said.

First, the water is retrieved from two new wells that draw their water from the alluvium aquifer. This means the wells only have to be 150 feet deep because the sand around the wells are full of water, unlike the current rock wells that are 1,500 feet deep.

"There's more than an adequate amount of water," Cochran said of the aquifer.

Cochran said the engineers knew that water from this aquifer is high in iron and magnesium, so they set up the water treatment plant to take care of this problem.

Not only does the plant have a thorough system of treatment, it is also capable of treating a tremendous quantity of water.

While the city currently can treat an average of 550 gallons of water per minute, with the new plant the city will be able to treat up to 1,500 gallons of water per minute.

The water goes through an aerator that strips the water of any gases, like hydrogen sulfide, that might be in the water. Oxygen is also added to combine with the iron so it will settle out of the water.

Chlorine, polymers and other pH-adjusting chemicals are then added to the water. The water goes into a clarifier, where the iron particles settle out, and then into a filter, where small particles are taken out. Finally, more chlorine is added, and the water goes into a clear well and into the water storage tank.

Automatic control pumps will turn on when the water levels in the tanks get low, and there are also some automatic controls associated with the backwashing of the filters.

"We have a lot of options with the control of the plant," Cochran said.

Cochran said the plant does not require someone to be there at all times, but there will be a daily check of the facility.

In addition to the construction of the water treatment plant, water storage towers at City Park and the Southeast Missouri Port Authority have been sandblasted and repainted.

Eskew said the new plant will pay for itself because it will allow for future business and residential growth in Scott City. There has already been substantial growth in the industrial park over the last few years.

"We're looking forward to it. I think it'll be state of the art, and hopefully it will fix all our problems," said Scott City Mayor Tim Porch said. "When it will really show if it was worth it is in the summer months when the peak usage is up."

kalfisi@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182