DeKalb city water system gets a gold star

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By Diane Strand The proposed water authority, which will face voters in the April 17 election, has been the focus of county-wide attention and beyond. Municipalities may not lobby one way or another about the issue, but they can provide general information. Last October, the DeKalb City Council authorized a study by Baxter and Woodman Engineering to create a Water System Master Plan Update. A final report was made last week at the council's workshop by Baxter and Woodman representative Carolyn Grieves. Following are some highlights. • Current water supply meets and exceeds the daily demand and &#8220fire flow” needs of the city, with 3.62 million gallons per day serving the population of 44,895 individuals; it's rated capacity is 12.8 million gallons per day. • If the city's population were to double, about 90,000 people, the system's average daily demand would be 8.5 million gallons per day. • The Troy Valley shallow aquifer is considered the future shallow well resource for the city while the Ironton/Galesburg aquifer is the deep well source Baxter and Woodman states in its report, &#8220It is fair to predict these two aquifers will provide an ample supply even if the city's population doubles. • However, as the city grows, there will be the need for improvements to treatment facilities and &#8220transmission” lines, as well as new wells, treatment plants and storage facilities. &#8220Currently, new wells are authorized by the IEPA at no charge to the city,” the report states. Gov. Rod Blagojevich last fall created a regional water study involving 11 counties. The task force is to develop state and regional water supply plans and help manage water use for all of northeastern Illinois Also working on the project will be the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the Illinois State Water Survey and the Illinois State Geological Survey. DeKalb County Board Chair Ruth Anne Tobias will serve on the task force. As part of the update, Baxter and Woodman made the following recommendations: • Maintain a single pressure zone in the city; it was felt that there wasn't enough need for a another pressure zone at this time. • When the city reaches a population of 53,578, it should construct Well 18 in the Troy Bedrock Valley, with 1,000 linear feet of 12-inch diameter to connect the new well to the water treatment plant via Well 15. • The city should continue its exploration of possible new locations for wells and should drill an additional test well to see how much additional capacity there is in the Troy Bedrock Valley Aquifer. • A new Well 19 (in the Troy Bedrock) should be constructed when the city reaches a population of 57,699. The report also supports a new iron removal water treatment plant if shallow well water is available and another future shallow well. If the shallow wells don't have adequate capacity, the city should consider another deep well. (Note: Currently, DeKalb deep wells have an excess amount of radium and the water must be diluted with shallow well water.) • When the population reaches 65,942, the city should construct a new 2.0 million gallon elevated water tank in the northwest quadrant near Bethany Road. • When the city grows beyond that point, it should plan more wells, water storage and treatment facilities.

Did you know ... Did you know that DeKalb has: • six deep wells and three shallow wells • five ion exchange radium removal plants • four elevated storage tanks • 174 miles of water mains, from 3 inches to 24 inches in diameter • a single &#8220pressure zone”-which is appropriate for current need; in fact, it would be both unnecessary and unnecessarily expensive to have another zone. • 8 percent unaccounted for water (which is typical and likely due to fire-fighting, hydrant testing or flushing • average per capita per day, 88 gallons

When water expansion is required, following are potential costs: • a new transmission main, well, well pump and well house-$1.4 million • construction of a new deep well and ion exchange water treatment plant, $7.1 million • A future Troy Bedrock Valley shallow well and iron removal facility able to handle multiple shallow wells, $4.2 million • a new elevated storage tank in the northwest part of the city, $3.6 million