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Bloomsdale Addresses Treatment Plant Issue, Water Access

By Mark Evans

mevans@stegenherald.com

“We had a little issue at the treatment plant,” Mayor Paul Monia told the Bloomsdale Board of Aldermen at the Oct. 13 meeting. “The little issue turned into a bigger issue.”

The problem stemmed from personnel not being able to shut a set of aging valves. From what plant manager Ron Berkbuegler told Monia, the valves have not shut for  some time.

Now, Monia said, sludge needs to be released on a nearby field, as soon as the current crop of beans are tender enough to be harvested.

Meanwhile, two new backflow valves will be added. Monia estimated it will be “a $3[,000] to $5,000 project.”

“There’s two valves that run to those ponds,” Monia explained. “If you pump them full and then you don’t urn that valve off and you walk away from it, you keep having stuff come in it, those are going to return. And when they return, guess what’s going to happen – the pot runneth over.”

The board authorized Monia to “fix it” as soon as the beans are harvested and  the residue can be removed.

NAEGER ASKS ABOUT WATER/SEWER ACCESS

Travis Naeger, who now owns a large tract of land on Cedar Ridge Lane at the northern edge of Bloomsdale, came to the meeting to discuss water and sewer options for the property.

Naeger now owns 32 acres on the hillside and intends to initially have a cabin or house and a shop. Ultimately, more of the property could be developed at some point.

Considerable discussion was held about the availability of city water there. A neighbor on nearby Parkview Drive has sewer but not water, Naeger said.

Naeger said getting water there could be complicated by the presence of a creek.

He would prefer to drill a well and just connect to the sewer system. Monia warned that digging a well there would be difficult. Naeger said he had the equipment to do it.

At one point Monia said that if another 100 acres of developable land nearby is ever developed, he could see “coming back around” with water pipes to supply the area.

“When I hear the first part of this story, I like the thought of the well,” Monia said. “When I hear the second part of it, when  you talk about an additional 100 acres, then I want to see if I couldn’t somehow come back around that, backwards with water, as opposed to the other way.”

Ward 2 Alderman Chris “Sappy” Basler said he felt Naeger should be allowed to use either water option for now, instead of taking water lines there.

“In my mind, until you have a set of plans or something that somebody has to develop … you couldn’t install it and say maybe this is what you need and maybe it isn’t,” Basler said.  “Also, we would want the developer to be responsible to do some of that.”

It was agreed that Naeger will be required to connect to the city sewer system, but can drill a well if he prefers, for the time being.