City discusses water treatment plant

By Sara Ramaker
Staff Writer

At a special meeting before its regular meeting Monday, June 9, the Allegan City Council discussed options for the city’s water treatment plant.

As engineers from Prein and Newhof in Grand Rapids stated, something has to be done to keep the 26-year-old plant operating smoothly and efficiently. The question is: What should be done and at what cost?

“We’re not going to get it all solved tonight,” Mayor Rick Day said. “This is just an opportunity for us to sit down with the engineers and have our questions answered.”

City manager Rob Hillard pointed out that upgrades and improvements to the existing plant have been discussed for three years and various studies have been conducted. Despite the span of time without decisive action, Hillard said the fate of the plant is a top priority for the city.

The plant currently utilizes a lime softening technique which involves adding lime to ground water which enables calcium and magnesium compounds in the water to be converted into calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide which then settles out of the water.

Ray Berkin, superintendent of the plant, said, “The lime process works but there is always room for improvement.”

Engineer Tom Newhof characterized the process as “troublesome” and said the plant was not built with the most efficient or effective processes available at the time. He urged the council to consider a new reverse osmosis system for the plant as an alternative to updating the plant’s existing system.

Newhof said the firm had conducted four or five surveys for the council and had first presented the idea in 2005.

Reverse osmosis is a process that uses pressure to force a solution through a membrane to filter out undesired substances. The membrane filters out minerals such as iron and calcium.

“Our plan would be to use reverse osmosis on approximately 70 percent of the water,” Newhof said. The rest of the water would be filtered through iron removal units and treated with chlorine.

Council member Mike Morton asked how water that had been filtered with this technique would taste compared to the city’s current water.

Newhof said by leaving minerals in a portion of the water supply the taste difference would be negligible to the average person.

Hillard said the real discussion came down to economics.

Based on engineer surveys and studies, the cost to upgrade the existing lime system would cost approximately $4.1 million. Switching the plant to a reverse osmosis system would cost $5.4 million dollars.

Cook explained that the additional cost of the new system may end up cheaper in the long run due to the higher operating costs of the lime system but he could not say which option would offer the city the longest use for its investment.

“I want to make a decision, not tonight, but I want to make a decision,” Morton said. “But I don’t feel like I can yet.”

Following the informal discussion session, the council agreed to discuss the issue further in the future, but no official date was set.

Sara Ramaker may be contacted at (269) 673-5534 or e-mailed at sramaker@allegannews.com.