Water improvement project OK’d
By Neil Johnson
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news@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON – Princeton City Council approved a notice of intent to award $2.9 million in bids for the first wave of work on the city’s planned public water improvement project.
Pending federal stimulus funding requests for the project, the council’s move Monday means the city is prepared to award work including: A new well field and lagoons on the city’s north end; improvements at the city’s existing water treatment plant; rehabilitation work for the city’s downtown water tower.
Officials said bids for Phase 1 of the water project were awarded provisionally as part of the city’s application for federal stimulus funds for the project. And on Monday, Mayor Keith Cain reiterated that the water project will not move forward unless stimulus money is awarded to the city.
City officials could know by November whether stimulus funds are awarded for the project.
Total bids for Phase 1 of the water project were $400,000 under engineer’s estimates, according to project manager, Farnsworth Group. Commissioner Terry Madsen called that result a “pleasant surprise.”
Meanwhile, the city’s looking at an approximately $200,000 government mandated replacement of an above ground diesel tank at the city’s municipal power plant, city officials said this week.
The Environmental Protection Agency first raised the issue of the diesel tank’s replacement three years ago because its single-wall construction no longer met regulatory codes, Princeton City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh said this week. He said since that time, the city’s been budgeting for the work and planning the project in conjunction with the EPA.
One wrinkle: The location where the city says it must place the new diesel tank is less than 200 feet from two of the city’s community water wells. That would clash with Illinois EPA setback requirements for public water supply protection.
The city council voted Monday to petition the Illinois Pollution Control Board for a setback exception allowing the new diesel tank to be put in place as planned, officials said.
Fiegenschuh said this week the city has no concerns about whether that request will be met. And Fiegenschuh said that at no time has the EPA indicated it would force the city to relocate public water sources based on the location of diesel tanks at the city’s power plant.
But Fiegenschuh indicated the city’s plans for a new well field on Princeton’s north end are, in part, an effort to remove community water sources from areas in the city where EPA setback clashes could occur.
Work on tank replacement at the power plant is tentatively slated for summer 2010, Fiegenschuh said.
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