The Missouri Department of Natural Resources is requiring Marthasville officials to temporarily add chlorine to the city's water until two public works projects are complete.
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The Missouri Department of Natural Resources has ordered Marthasville to begin adding chlorine to the water, Mayor David Lange announced during the Oct. 18 board of aldermen meeting.
The move is temporary pending the completion of several projects the city is doing to improve water service in the city.
The use of chlorine was mandated after some of the city’s water samples showed chloroform in the water.
Lange said the city and DNR both took samples, and he said some of the results contradicted each other.
“They took 14 samples and various samples might show positive and ours would be negative,” he said. “They said that bacteria travels in clusters and you can get a bad sample from the same location two minutes later or one minute later. They said it happens all the time.”
The board authorized Lange to sign an emergency contract with DNR stating that the city would come off chlorination when the projects are complete.
The projects include installing a second pressure reducing valve now that the City Hall water tower was demolished to help improve water circulation in that part of Marthasville. It will replace an old altitude control valve that kept the water tower from running over before the new tank at a higher elevation was built, Lange said.
The city also needs to extend a waterline in the north part of the city that will help with water flow and circulation. Lange said the city just recently acquired the easements for that project.
Both projects are part of the engineer’s recommendation from the water study the city had done and both have been approved by DNR.
“I convinced them to let us get the projects done, whether it takes a year or a year-and-a-half or whatever and gives us the opportunity when they’re done to say ‘ok, now we’re going to come off chlorine,” Lange said. “We just need to follow through on the water improvement projects and get them done.”
Lange did say he was disappointed DNR was requiring the use of chlorine in the city’s water.
“I said we’ve got some of the best water in the state,” Lange said. “I’ll put it up against anybody.”
The city will have to install equipment at the new storage tank, though the site was designed and built for it. The city will also have to purchase the chlorine.
About the author: Jason Koch is the editor of The Warren County Record, and covers local news and government for the newspaper. He has won multiple awards from both the Indiana and Illinois APME and from the Illinois Press Association. He can be reached at 636-456-6397 or at jason@warrencountyrecord.com
