UPDATE:
On May 18th I announced the “Moving Forward Initiative” which prioritized making improvements to our water plant and infrastructure to improve our water distribution and quality. At that time, Randy Wyant (Water and Waste Water Chair) and I asked our engineers to “laser focus” on solutions to do the same. I am pleased to announce that Council unanimously approved our initiative and our engineers and our new Water Superintendent, Tyler Martin have been very busy developing a plan to accomplishing our goals.
As part of this plan Tyler has identified defective water hydrants and has been working closely with Wayne Link and our street and alley team to replace them. New, replacement hydrants have been ordered and Wayne informed us this morning that they will begin replacing them tomorrow. All hydrants need to be in good working condition in order to complete a proper flushing of our water system to remove sediments.
Tyler also informed us that our engineers have designed a flushing program which makes our flushing better and more efficient and that they are running simulations this week to make sure it meets our needs. We should have a new flushing plan in place in the next several weeks.
Another action item Tyler is looking into is adding phosphate to our water system for corrosion control and to reduce water discoloration.
Not all areas of our community have discolored water and Tyler is asking for used water filters to help identify areas where there is a problem. These filters could be whole house filters, refrigerator filters or any water filter that has been used. Please place the used filter in a bag and mark on the bag how often it’s replaced, the date of replacement and your address and then contact Tyler Martin via email at tmartin@gcpd.net or call City Hall at 217/784-5872 and Tyler will pick them up. Your help will be greatly appreciated.
I know this is a lot of information, but Randy Wyant, his committee, the entire Council and I want to keep everyone informed as much as possible. We will continue to “move forward”.
Please spread the word, and thank you for your cooperation!