Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Illinois American starting major project to replace water lines in 3 metro-east towns

Illinois American updates metro-east water mains

The Illinois American Water company has started work on replacing more than three miles of 2-inch water main pipe in Belleville, East St. Louis and Granite City.

The water mains will be replaced with 6-inch and 8-inch pipe at a cost of more than $2.5 million, according to the company. Work will be done in:

* Belleville on Optimist Drive, East C Street, East D Street, JoAnn Drive, Blue Ridge Drive, Woodberry Drive and Duncan Avenue in Swansea.

* East St. Louis on North Park Street between 30th and 32nd streets, 45th Street between Lincoln and Caseyville streets, 44th Street between Lincoln and Caseyville streets and 43rd Street between Lincoln and Caseyville streets.

* Granite City on State Street between 23rd and 27th streets, 25th Street from August Street to access road, Alexander Street, State Route 203 and Raceway Boulevard in Madison and Alton Avenue between 12th and Elizabeth streets in Madison.

Company manager of external affairs Karen Cotton said the work is part of the company's annual effort to reinvest in its water system. She said the areas to be repaired are aged and many are over a century old. She also said that the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that more than $335 billion, including $15 billion in Illinois, will need to be spent over the next 20 years on infrastructure improvements to ensure the nation's quality of water and waste water disposal service.

"We need to go out there and make investment in those pipes," Cotton said. "We continue to do it every year but I think it's a significant investment."

She said Illinois American's parent company, American Water, estimates that its own company-funded capital investment will total between approximately $4 billion and $4.5 billion over the next five years to ensure continued reliable service. In Illinois, American Water has been continuously and proactively investing in its infrastructure to ensure reliable service. Since 2000, Illinois American Water has invested over $300 million to improve service to customers and has $184 million in investments planned for 2009 and 2010.

"Several water departments across the state that do not do this end up having huge issues. We don't want to have huge issues."

The need to update infrastructure follows a report from earlier this year that revealed the nation's drinking water system was not of the highest quality. According to the "Report Card for America's Drinking Water," issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the water quality was graded a D-minus. Aside from aging water pipes, the study cited that the nation's dams and levies are becoming outdated, and many water treatments plants are too small to meet growing population's demand.

Cotton said these findings relate directly to Illinois American's main replacement program.

"We think this report is a really good tool, and we think that it actually supports what we've been doing for years and continue to invest in our system," Cotton said. "We make annual investments in the infrastructure. That's a huge part of what we do. This report supports that ongoing need to do that."