City of St. Elmo Celebrates Partnership to Receive Softened Water

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Published on October 23 2015 4:15 pm
Last Updated on October 23 2015 4:15 pm
Written by Greg Sapp

Fayette Water Company and EJ Water Cooperative, Inc. held a ribbon cutting Wednesday for the opening of the interconnect that will provide softened water to the city of St. Elmo.

The ceremony was followed by a pancake breakfast at the St. Elmo American Legion to celebrate the partnership and cooperation between EJ Water Cooperative, Fayette Water Company, the City of St. Elmo, and Pinnacle Foods. The partnership will give the city of St. Elmo a reliable source of soft water in large quantities to serve not only its residents, but also their largest user Pinnacle Foods.

Earlier this year, Pinnacle Foods completed an approximately $50 million plant expansion in St. Elmo, adding 100 jobs to the local economy, and requiring a large increase in municipal water usage. The city of St. Elmo purchases their water from Fayette Water Company. After evaluating alternatives to meet the increased demand, Fayette Water Company worked with EJ Water Cooperative for the additional capacity required.

EJ Water Cooperative and Fayette Water Company both completed infrastructure improvements to interconnect the two systems so that EJ Water Cooperative could deliver water to Fayette Water Company through Rural Development funding. Fayette Water Company completed approximately six miles of eight inch watermain, a booster station, telemetry upgrades and appurtenances at a project cost of $1.1 million. EJ Water Cooperative completed approximately six miles of 10 inch watermain and appurtenances at a project cost of $600,000. The contractor for both projects was Haier Plumbing and Heating Inc. Milano and Grunloh Engineers of Effingham helped secure funding, executed design and permitting, and completed construction observation to help ensure successful completion for both entities.

St. Elmo will now be supplied softened water from the Delbert Mundt Water Treatment Plant located north of Beecher City, which was awarded the 2015 Best Tasting Water Award from Illinois Rural Water Association.