$90M in water infrastructure needs identified in City of Cape

A consultant working for the City of Cape Girardeau has identified around $90 million worth of infrastructure work that needs to be done on the city's water system.

Crawford, Murphy & Tilly — a St. Louis based engineering firm used by the city as a consultant in the past — has been working on a report for more than a year to identify needs in the water system, said Casey Brunke, assistant director of Public Works.

The report was commissioned following the most recent renewal of the Capital Improvement Sales Tax by Cape Girardeau voters in 2019. CIST listed 16 specific projects and designated around $19 million of improvements to the water system.

"So, we always have more needs than we have funds for, right? So, that's nothing new," Brunke said.

Brunke said city officials will schedule a meeting in the next few months in order to determine priority projects ahead of the budget process for the next fiscal year. The process begins around December.

The list created by the consultant includes upsizing pipes in certain areas, rerouting other pipes to spread out usage and booster pump upgrades, among other items.

Upgrades to the water system have been pushed to the forefront of infrastructure discussions following the water main break last week in the Big Bend Road area that placed Cape Girardeau under a boil advisory for five days. The break also caused a loss of pressure and water for many customers in the city.

Public Works director Stan Polivick said in an interview with the Southeast Missourian last week that the main break could give officials the "push" they need to get working on improvements. Polivick was referring the need for more valves on areas of the city — mostly downtown — with aging infrastructure.

A lack of valves elongated the repair time for the main break from a few hours to nearly a day because workers were unable to completely close off the flow of water to the pipe.

Alliance Water — the company that works with the city to operate and maintain the water system — has already conducted a debrief of the main break. Brunke said city officials will be conducting a debriefing of their own next week to evaluate response to the situation, distribution and assess needs.

"I don't disagree we do needs some valves, more valves within the system," Brunke said. "You know, we need to figure out where these go and then how we pay for them, but we haven't sat down and talked about that yet."

In the meantime, the city has prioritized three projects totaling $8 million that are in the design phase:

Plant 1 Filter Piping Modifications

The $2 million upgrades are currently in the design phase. The plan is to upgrade the piping gallery for filters at the plant to allow more water to be pushed through the system to meet anticipated future demand.

"We're only going to need more water as time goes on," Brunke said.

SCADA System Upgrade

The Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System allows employees to get real-time information on the water system and close and open valves remotely.

The proposed upgrade from the city's current system provider will cost around $1 million.

Lime Slurry System

Lime systems are used to lower the pH levels of water, helping combat pipe and water main erosion. The current pelletized lime system is reaching the end of its life cycle.

The plan is to retrofit a lime-slurry system to existing infrastructure. The slurry is expected to be more efficient and reduce lime settlement in the system.

"Pelletized lime is just really messy. The slurry lime is a lot cleaner and a lot less headache for our maintenance people," Brunke said.

Cape Girardeau City Council members approved seeking American Rescue Plan Act funds for the $5 million project. City officials are still waiting to hear back on the grant application.

If federal funds are not acquired for the project it will likely be pushed off until funds are made available, Brunke said.