Water treatment plant showing signs of aging
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Sentinel Photo/JO ALLEN
CHECKING THE DEPTH — Cam Niermann measures the depth of water in one of three water treatment pools.
Sentinel Photo/JO ALLEN
FILTRATION PROCESS — Inside the plant where the water is filtered.
Sentinel Photo/JO ALLEN
RUSTED WALKWAY — After nearly 100 years, some parts of the water treatment facility are showing signs of wear and tear.
Sentinel Photo/JO ALLEN
SEPARATION AREA — Where the water is gently stirred as particles and sludge sink to the bottom, separating from the water.
Sentinel Photo/JO ALLEN
OLD RECORDS SYSTEM — An unused monitoring and records system still present in the century old water plant.
CENTRALIA — As the Centralia water treatment plant nears 100 years old and construction plans for the new plant get underway, plant workers and City of Centralia Public Works Director Jeff Schwartz count the days until they can finally put the old plant to rest.
Erected under the administration of Mayor John McNeil in 1925, the plant has seen better days. Despite this, it continues to clean an average of 3.5 million gallons of water daily for more than 32,000 customers in Centralia and its surrounding communities, including Central City, Wamac, Odin, Sandoval, Irvington and more.
Plant operator Cam Niermann told the Sentinel that the plant can potentially supply water almost to Iuka and treat five million gallons of water daily.
Water is pumped from Racoon and Caryle Lakes, with Caryle Lake being the preferred choice.
From these water sources, water is pumped to the plant, where chemicals with a positive charge are added to the water; these chemicals help containment, and particles such as mud sink to the bottom, separating the water from the particles in a process called coagulation.
The next step is to gently mix the water to form large and heavy particles called flocs that sink to the bottom of giant tubs, where the water undergoes the process known as flocculation.
In Centralia, this entire process is done in one of three giant tubs, where the water comes up dirty and sludgy in the middle and goes through four rings where sedimentation occurs. As the water travels farther out, the more apparent it gets.
During this process, every hour for about 30 seconds, dirt and sludge are blown out from the tubs and sent to one of six basins located along West Green Street.
Once the water and sludge are separated, the water is transported into the water treatment facility, where it is filtered and treated.
Treated water is then transported to one of five water towers in the Centralia region.
Though the plant continues to treat clean drinking water, there are concerns about its ability to keep doing so in the future.
One such concern is the structural integrity of the building. According to Schwartz and the city officials, the age of the building increases the risk of structural damage or even collapse. Schwartz described a time, many years ago, when the plant’s walls bowed due to its structural integrity. However, he notes that they have not had issues since.
Another concern is the mechanical integrity of the equipment that keeps the plant running. As the equipment ages, the risk of something going wrong increases.
Much of the equipment and piping at the plant is underground, in hard-to-reach places.
“When they built the plant back in the day, they weren’t thinking about being able to access it in 50 or 100 years,” Schwartz told the Sentinel.
The plant’s location in a flood zone is another concern; though it has not flooded since the 90s, the risk of it flooding again creates a safety hazard for the workers. It is noted that the new plant location is not in a flood zone.
The new water treatment plant will be located on West Green Street, on city-owned property, alongside the six water basins that the plant already utilizes. This new plant will be able to treat up to six million gallons of water a day and will cost nearly $28 million to construct. The city is awaiting approval from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) for a low-interest loan that will cover the project.
