St. Charles is considering a water treatment plant, according to a public hearing that took place before Monday’s Government Services Committee meeting.
John Lamb, St. Charles’ environmental services manager, said the filtration system would be used to quell naturally occurring radium in the city’s water.
The maximum acceptable limit for water is 5 picocuries per liter. Lamb said St. Charles is at about 4.5 picocuries in the water that goes out to the public, but the treatment plant would be a better system than the city’s current reservoir filtration system. The current system blends deep-well water with shallow reservoir water to reduce the radium levels for water going out into the system.
“This treats the radium, but it also allows us to use more water out of those wells,” Lamb said. “It helps water production.”
Lamb said if approved, the plant wouldn’t break ground until spring of 2010 at the earliest. They still are waiting for stimulus funds they have applied for, but he said there’s a chance the plant could be built either way depending on the city’s budget.
“If it for some reason didn’t get built, we’d still be able to provide (clean water),” Lamb said. “We’d just keep doing what we’re doing now.”
No residents commented at the hearing.
