Cape's water project is long overdue

Cape Girardeau's effort to ensure more water capacity, especially during those dry summer spells, began with the passage of a $26.5 million bond issue in November 1996 and continues today -- more than six years later. The latest chapter in this unending saga is a newly discovered problem with the wells.

Voters overwhelmingly passed the measure after being told Cape Girardeau risked running out of water during long summer droughts. Yes, the Mississippi River has plenty of water, but the city's treatment plant could process only so much, and there were problems with the river intake system too.

City officials said a better solution would be tapping underground water using wells and upgrading the water treatment plant. Well water is softer and easier to treat than river water, meaning better water for drinking, washing clothes and dishes and taking showers. All of those were effective arguments.

Zip to 2003. We're only part of the way there. What flows from residents' taps is a mixture of well and river water.

The entire project was supposed to be done by Feb. 18, 2002, and the contractor, Huffman Inc., is subject to fines of $1,000 a day for every day past that deadline when work could have been done and wasn't -- something the city and Huffman officials have to resolve when it's all over.

The problem? Depends on who you ask. Months ago, an engineer with Burns & McDonnell, the engineering firm for the city on the project, said the contractor didn't put enough workers on the job or do effective planning.

And now Huffman is complaining that there was faulty engineering. The 10 alluvial wells in the plans don't produce enough water for the treatment plant's expanded capacity of 7.5 million gallons a day, the contractor says. It requires pulling from the Mississippi River to fill in the gap.

The upshot is that it will take another $238,750 for another company, Brotcke Well and Pump of Fenton, Mo., to drill two more test wells about two miles north of the Cape Rock Water Treatment Plant. If they work, the wells can be kept for more capacity, but that cost doesn't include whatever it will take to get the additional well water to the treatment plant. The new completion date for the entire water treatment plant project is middle to late summer.

Some long, hot months are very likely on the way. By this point, Cape Girardeau residents expected to get through them using as much well water as they wanted, including watering their lawns and washing their cars. While there's no threat of a shortage yet, the situation is not what voters anticipated in 1996.

The city owes it to residents to ride herd on this project and get it finished. There's a lot to sort out, but officials have to make sure those who are responsible for the delays are held accountable.