THE PUBLIC MIND: HEALTH OFFICIALS BACK PURCHASE OF WATER PLANT BY CITY

To the Editor of the Southeast Missourian and Citizens of Cape Girardeau:

Re: Purchase of Union Electric Water System

Communities should control the quality of their water supply. Professional personnel who daily maintain and monitor operation and construction are basic to a safe water supply. Citizen ownership would allow expansion of the public water supply system into the outskirts of the community for the protection of public health rather than for economic reasons only. Please consider the following:

1. Clean, safe water is a basic human need which is elementary to a thriving community. Many of the residential areas at the periphery and immediately surrounding Cape are served by wells which were not built to current standards. They may never have been intended to be multi-family or subdivision water supplies.

2. Shallow, overstressed wells create cones of depression and draw surface contaminants into the underground water supplies. Surface contamination is usually greater in areas where population is concentrated. Septic systems are generally used for wastewater treatment and are often improperly constructed and maintained.

3. Since the quality and quantity of water from the overloaded wells is often less than desirable, users frequently have their own wells drilled. Proliferation of wells dramatically increases the possibility of accidental underground water supply contamination.

For these three reasons, as well as others, and without considering the low price Union Electric has quoted the City of Cape Girardeau, we, at the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, are hoping the citizens of Cape Girardeau will vote favorably for the City or buy Union Electric's water system. It only takes good sense to us for our elected officers to be responsible for our water system. Why on earth would we want anyone else or any other community to be in charge of such an important and integral part of our lives. Union Electric is going to sell the water system let's keep it under our own roof!

Sincerely,

Charlotte Craig, Administrator

Jonell McNeely,

Environmental Sanitarian