St. Charles won't have water solution for 10 months

St. Charles residents seeking better drinking water in their homes received feedback from city officials Monday that may also be hard to swallow.

There is neither a cheap nor a fast solution to the hard water flowing through much of the city. It will be at least 10 months before city officials have a report detailing the costs of improving water and how to pay for the upgrades.

Public Works Director Peter Suhr said the city's water poses no danger to residents in announcing the $125,000 study.

"We continue to supply safe and reliable water to all our water customers," Suhr said. "With this study, the city will have an all-inclusive guide for the next 10 years. This is just the beginning of study and dialogue."

Residents, particularly those outside the downtown area, engaged city officials in dialogue in recent weeks about water quality. Some of those exchanges involved emotional letters about living day-to-day with water that creates doubts about drinking, bathing or washing just by its appearance. Resident Shannon Ambrogio brought pictures of her household water, but aldermen declined to view them and placed their trust in her descriptions.

"Some days it's perfectly clear, but some days it's totally brown," Ambrogio said. "It's disgusting."

Ambrogio's fellow residents kept comments cordial despite their frustration. They told aldermen they aren't looking for water equal to or better than Chicago or even neighboring Geneva. Just having parity in the city's water system would be an upgrade.

Tim Wilson, the environmental services manager in the city's public works department, explained why some residents have what some may consider better water than others. The city's water system is 100 years old. Some of the original infrastructures still exist. Some of the city's wells receive advanced treatment designed to remove radium. That treatment results in water softening as a side effect. But some wells receive no advanced treatment.

The water system study will examine ways to bring a full water softening system to the entire city. The study is also a prerequisite to EPA funding that could help to pay for the system.

For perspective, Geneva debuted a reverse osmosis water treatment facility in 2008. It cost $21.5 million. That equals about $25 million in 2017 money. St. Charles is also a larger city with a bigger water system.

Water: Geneva facility cost $21.5 million in 2008