El Centro water plant online by 2009 By ERIC GALVAN, Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 11:15 PM PST
JOSELITO VILLERO PHOTO
El Centro water plant lead operator Marco A. Garcia checks an empty clarifier at the city’s water treatment plant on South Eighth Street in El Centro.
El Centro’s new water plant is scheduled to be online and providing a better quality of water by August 2009, water treatment division supervisor Paul Steward said.
On Tuesday, the city had a ground-breaking ceremony symbolizing the next steps taken in constructing the new $28.4 million facility, which will sit next to the old plant.
“We plan on issuing notice to proceed Tuesday and they should start working that same day,” Steward said.
The current facility is more than 50 years old, having been built in 1955, and has become antiquated.
“Reliability was becoming an issue,” Steward said. “We had some breaks in pipes that, if they happened at the right time, could put the entire city out of water.”
At the current facility chunks of concrete have begun falling off walls, rebar is starting to break through the concrete and pipes are starting to rust.
“We’ve had some equipment failures,” Steward said. “And I’d say it’s been really bad the last 10 to 15 years.”
Also, with the city’s increased development and population the old facility is reaching near capacity. It’s peak capacity provides 16.5 million gallons of water each day. Current capacity is more than 20 million gallons per day.
The new facility when fully constructed will have a maximum capacity of 63 million gallons a day.
Steward said under the plans for the new facility a first phase will be constructed that will pump out 21 million gallons a day.
A second phase will duplicate the new plan and increase the capacity.
The new facility will be able to provide services for at least the next 70 years, Steward said.
Increased water standards has added to the burdened system.
“When this facility was originally built, it was built to treat water differently,” Steward said. “The standards then aren’t what they are today.”
With increased standards on particulate matter, lead, copper and arsenic, the new plant has to be more technology-driven to keep up.
Steward said when the new facility is online it will be running at the same time as the old one. It will take some time to transition and he said he can’t guarantee there won’t be minor problems initially.
Consumers won’t notice an overnight change but the quality of water will be higher, he said.
Most importantly, he said, the new facility will not mean any new increases in water rates that aren’t already part of the increase schedule.
He said when studies were done in 1993 the City Council at the time voted to increase water rates and a 30 percent increase was implemented.
However, that 30 percent was spread over the course of five years.
“All the rates are in place to support this project,” he said. “Everything to finance this facility has already been done.”
" With all of the new construction that has taken place over the past few years it is time to replace or enlarge the present sewer plant too. The aroma coming from there the other morning could take the paint off the houses. There is a stench coming from the manholes on the North side of El Centro that gag you when you go for your morning/afternoon walk. "
jsyi wrote on Jan 17, 2008 12:34 AM:
" hmm... "
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Madeline wrote on Jan 17, 2008 7:04 AM: