$37M Project Sets System for 50 Years
Following simultaneous breaks in the Macomb water system's two main lines last weekend, the planned construction of a new plant is a welcomed site for Public Works Director Alice Ohrtmann.
'We'll have new pipes,' she said, tongue-in-cheek, when asked about the benefits of the new plant.
The EPA has approved a $37 million loan for the project. The new plant will be at Grant and Ward streets in Macomb, with three new wells drilled.
'So right now, the existing water plant, the bones of it were built in 1910, and it's been added onto over the course of the years,' Ohrtmann said. 'But there are still some parts of that old plant that are in operation, and it is kind of a medley of different types of treatment that not any one of them by themselves provides enough water for the whole system.' She said. With the medley-nature of the current system, it takes some creativity to keep up with water demand serving the Macomb, Colchester and Bardolph areas.
Additionally, the current plant, wedged in at the end of North Randolph Street among Glenwood and Everly Parks, has no more room for growth.
'This old plant, things are breaking every day,' Ohrtmann said. 'The operators are constantly fixing pumps, fixing motors, just all kinds of stuff. That's a good portion of their job, because that's how old the equipment is.'
The new plant will be equipped to handle at least 50 years of expected community and industry growth, an important facet as the city seeks new capital projects and improvements.
The new plant will also use reverse osmosis, the preferred water treatment method of EPA guidelines, Ohrtmann said. That's an important factor as water quality testing guidelines become more stringent.
Regardless of what future regulations come down from the Environmental Protection Agency, reverse osmosis most likely already takes it out,' Ohrtmann said.
Bids on the new plant are planned by early 2026, with construction completion summer of 2027.
Most of the water in Macomb's system currently comes from Spring Lake. Ohrtmann said the quality of that water is continuously declining due to silt from farm run-off.
