City learns about water plant issues

The Vandalia City Council approved on Monday a quick, short-term fix to the city’s water treatment plant.

It also discussed the possibility that the long-term answer to a number of structural problems may be the construction of a new plant.
Water plant Superintendent Marty Huskey asked Scott Hunt of Hurst-Roche Engineers of Hillsboro to make a general walk-through at the facility, saying that he “had some concerns with the filter basins.”
Giving his report to the city council’s water and sewer committee on Monday evening, Hunt said he discovered a number of structural issues, one that needs quick attention.
Hunt told committee chairman Terry Beesley and members B. John Clark and Mike Hobler, as well as Mayor Rick Gottman, that his “primary concern” is the overhead deck structure in the pump room.
In that area, Hunt said, concrete is falling off and the reinforcement bars are becoming exposed, with some beams sagging as much as 3 inches.
That not only is creating a safety issue, but the collapse of that roof would cause the lose of power to the plant, he said.
“I can’t guarantee that it would collapse tomorrow or in 12 months,” said Hunt, who performed the walk-through at no charge to the city.
Giving an overall assessment, he told the committee, “There are some major structural issues (at the plant).”
Hunt said that he noticed at numerous places on the exterior of the plant white spots. Those spots, he said, are indications of minor cracks, with the white spots being chemicals working their way to the exterior.
Those minor cracks have sealed themselves, he said, but it’s an indication that the “reinforcement bars have been jeopardized.
“It’s not an immediate issue, but all of those cracks will lead to serious problems,” Hunt said, guessing that major problems will arise in four to five years.
He told the committee and mayor that Hurst-Roche could perform a structural investigation, at a cost of $4,000, to better evaluate the plant.
“We really need to evaluate how many issues are out there,” Hunt said, adding that his preliminary study makes him believe that the city may have to consider whether it’s worth it, long-term, to making repairs to the structure.
“You could be spending a lot of money over 10 years,” he said. “At what point do you replace it with a new structure.
“You have to look at (the cost of) building a new plant of this size versus rehabilitating this structure,” Hunt said.
Alderman Andy Lester said, “Long-term, we’re looking at building a new plant.”
Hunt said, “From what I’ve seen out there, that makes the most sense.”
Gottman and the committee gave Huskey permission to have a contractor repair the roof structure in the pump room as soon as possible, and they OK’d having Hurst-Roche do a more thorough structural investigation of the plant.
The water and sewer committee also received a draft of a water purchase agreement with Kaskaskia Springs Water Co., but agreed to hold off on sending a recommendation to the full council until it has another chance to meet with the water company partners, Walt Barenfanger and Jeff Beckman.
At the committee meeting, Huskey expressed a couple of concerns about receiving water from the partners.
Huskey said that in speaking with other water plant operators, he’s heard about problems in mixing well water with raw water being processed at their plants.
“We don’t know if their water is going to mix with ours (from the lake or the river),” he said, adding that chemical feeders will have to be set up at each well being used.
He also told committee members he’s been told that the wells have to be tested on a regular basis, with the cost to the city possibly being as much as $400 a week.
“The wells have to prove themselves for a year,” Huskey said.
He also told committee members, as he did at an earlier meeting, that he doesn’t see the need to receive water from the partnership from late fall to early spring. During that period, Huskey said, “lake water is OK.”
Based on Huskey’s concerns, committee chairman Terry Beesley said, “I guess what we need to do is slow down a little bit.
“Here’s my fear – that we will put a large amount of money into this and find out a year later that it won’t work.”
 

Scott Hunt of Hurst-Roche Engineers of Hillsboro told the Vandalia City Council’s water and sewer committee that white spots on the exterior of the water treatment plant are signs of future problems.