SOUTHERN ILLINOIS WATER SYSTEM ON GO

DONGOLA, Ill. -- Southwater Inc., a new, not-for-profit company created by Southern Illinois Electric Cooperative, has acquired funding to start an $8.1 million water treatment and distribution facility.

Phase I calls for 45 miles of transmission pipe to serve Alexander, Pulaski and Union counties.

The first phase is part of an estimated $20 million system. The Phase I project will include a water treatment facility and wells that will tap into the system's water source, an underground aquifer where thousands of year ago the Ohio River joined the Mississippi.

"Southwater will receive almost $3.2 million in grants and $3 million in loans from Rural Economic and Community Development, formerly known as the Farmers Home Administration," said Larry Lovell, general manager of Southern Illinois Electric Co-op. The Illinois Department of Community Affairs also has announced a commitment of $1.6 million to the project.

Bids for the Phase I work are expected to be taken next spring, with water reaching SouthWater customers by the end of that year or early 1977.

Planners are working on securing rights-of-way, said Lovell, and signing of customers is under way.

Before constructions starts, tap-on fees are $150, said Lovell. "Once construction goes past your house, the hook up fee will be $350," he said.

Response has been good, said Lovell. "People have shown a lot of enthusiasm for the project."

SouthWater will sell water wholesale to communities and water districts that want to become a part of the system. These include the Central Alexander County Water District in the Olive Branch area and McClure-East Cape Girardeau Water District. Water districts at Mill Creek and Pulaski have indicated they would join SouthWater.

Two more communities have expressed an interest: Mounds in Alexander County and Dongola in southern Union County.

"Many of the community water districts have older, inefficient water treatment facilities," said Lovell. "Increasing federal and state regulations are making it harder for them to comply."

The new company also will sell water retail to customers in unserved rural areas.

There are many potential individual customers throughout the area who depend on wells and cisterns. Many haul water to their homes.

As many as 1,600 homes in the service area are not connected to a municipal water system. Eighty percent of these people have indicated they will sign on with SouthWater.

The average monthly fee will be about $27, said Lovell. That would include the use of about 4,500 gallons of water.

SouthWater exploratory wells will be drilled west of Sandusky in Alexander County to find the best site for source wells.

A spot hasn't been selected for the wells, but "the water treatment facility will be located near those wells," said Lovell. As much as 40 acres of farmland in and around Tamms, Olive Branch or Sandusky will be used.

Lovell said he hopes to find an area outside floodplains or wetlands. Appropriate agencies have been notified to determine if an environmental study is necessary.

The idea of a regional water treatment center emerged about two years ago during a meeting of representatives from the Illinois EPA, Southern Five Regional Planning Commission, Farmers Home, Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs and Southern Illinois Electric Co-op.

Representatives of those groups contacted U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard, D-Carterville, and state Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Belleville. "They were instrumental in setting up a series of meetings with federal and state officials to gather support for the project, said Lovell.

He said the system will help economic development.

Businesses and developers will look at areas with the regional water system, said Lovell. "And, what we're looking at here is a state-of-the-art water treatment system for the area."

Poshard, Costello, Illinois Rep. David D. Phelps, Illinois USDA-Rural Economic and Community Development Director Wally Furror, Rural Utilities Service Deputy Administrator John Romano, Lovell and SIEC directors Richard Moss and Glenn Tripp gathered for a groundbreaking for the system at Shawnee Community College near Ullin recently.