Illinois American Water to upgrade water treatment plant in the US

Illinois American Water’s Metro East service area, Interurban District, is investing $12m to upgrade the Granite City water treatment plant in the US.

Interurban District has started construction work on a 2.5 million gallon clear well and pump station at the water treatment plant to increase the operational efficiency, as well as meet the new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for water quality.

Authorities at the Interurban District will also use the investment to install three pumps with variable frequency drive motors to save energy consumption and to produce water to match demand, rather than pumping water at one speed.

Interurban District senior operations manager Grant Evitts said, "This technology will save on energy use and cost, reducing our environmental footprint, while benefiting our operations and customers."

Partnership for Safe Water, a national volunteer initiative developed by EPA and other water organisations representing water suppliers, has honoured the the Granite City water treatment plant with a ten-year directors award for the quality of water produced at the plant, according to Evitts.

The project is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2013.

In one of its reports EPA suggested that the US will have to invest over $335bn in the country’s water utilities infrastructure over the next two decades to ensure public health.

The investments will include replacement of water pipelines, upgrade of water treatment plants, storage tanks and other infrastructure assets.