2008 Woodie Awards
Council: Macomb water has been sub-par 'in several areas over the years' (6/25/08)
Sarah Zeeck
Issue date: 7/2/08 Section: News
Among topics on the agenda at Monday evening's city council meeting, issues with the water plant and emerald ash borers plaguing the city drew the most discussion.
Public Works director Walter Burnett presented the performance evaluation on the water plant and provided the plan the public works department wants to take to fix the issues.
"The big picture is, the water plant has exceeded Illinois' Environmental Protection Agency's regulations in several areas over the years," Burnett said, adding that Macomb has not been up to EPA standards in two areas.
The first area for improvement for Macomb water is the disinfectant byproduct rule. According to Burnett, under this rule, chlorine disinfectants in the water react to organic material in the water, thus resulting in "minimal amounts of disinfectant by trihalomethane."
The other issue with Macomb water is turbidity, which Burnett said is nothing but cloudiness. "In and of itself, it is not harmful health-wise," he said. "However, it provides a medium in which protozoal growth can form."
Burnett will give a presentation at next week's meeting to discuss the installation of a new membrane filtration system to help "stay in line with EPA."
Another issue discussed was the insurgence of emerald ash borers, which will destroy ash trees in the area. According to Randy Powell, the pests have currently been contained to an area from Chicago to Kankakee to LaSalle-Peru to the Wisconsin border, but measures will have to be taken to prevent infested logs and ash trees from entering the Macomb area and causing an epidemic.
In other business, the council will consider granting Deborah John of the Sapphire Restaurant and Ruby Lounge on East Carroll Street a liquor license. Also, a Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of the Village of Wheeler subdivision was presented to assist councilmembers in their upcoming vote regarding the issue later this month.
Public Works director Walter Burnett presented the performance evaluation on the water plant and provided the plan the public works department wants to take to fix the issues.
"The big picture is, the water plant has exceeded Illinois' Environmental Protection Agency's regulations in several areas over the years," Burnett said, adding that Macomb has not been up to EPA standards in two areas.
The first area for improvement for Macomb water is the disinfectant byproduct rule. According to Burnett, under this rule, chlorine disinfectants in the water react to organic material in the water, thus resulting in "minimal amounts of disinfectant by trihalomethane."
The other issue with Macomb water is turbidity, which Burnett said is nothing but cloudiness. "In and of itself, it is not harmful health-wise," he said. "However, it provides a medium in which protozoal growth can form."
Burnett will give a presentation at next week's meeting to discuss the installation of a new membrane filtration system to help "stay in line with EPA."
Another issue discussed was the insurgence of emerald ash borers, which will destroy ash trees in the area. According to Randy Powell, the pests have currently been contained to an area from Chicago to Kankakee to LaSalle-Peru to the Wisconsin border, but measures will have to be taken to prevent infested logs and ash trees from entering the Macomb area and causing an epidemic.
In other business, the council will consider granting Deborah John of the Sapphire Restaurant and Ruby Lounge on East Carroll Street a liquor license. Also, a Declaration of Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions of the Village of Wheeler subdivision was presented to assist councilmembers in their upcoming vote regarding the issue later this month.
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