EWSU Calls an Audible

Utility officials explore an alternative to a new water treatment plant

After declaring for several years that the city needed a new water treatment plant, the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility now says, โ€œnot so fast.โ€

In an Oct. 1 Rotary Club speech, EWSU Executive Director Vic Kelson announced that a cost-saving alternative to a water treatment plant is being considered. He explained it involves supplementing surface water from the Ohio River with groundwater from wells, a method that could curtail short-term rate increases needed to build a plant of more than $50 million.

Kelson says the idea came up as the city pondered a state requirement that the utility must have a plan to treat PFAS โ€” known as โ€œforever chemicalsโ€ โ€” by summer 2025 and be ready to implement it five years later.

Treating PFAS could add an additional $100 million in future capital expenses, plus more in operation and maintenance costs, Kelson says.

โ€œAt that point, we considered the possibility that our groundwater might not have PFAS,โ€ Kelson says in a news release from Mayor Stephanie Terryโ€™s office. โ€œAfter realizing that an earlier groundwater study hadnโ€™t looked at treating groundwater and surface water separately, we decided to investigate and see if that would be a viable approach to dealing with PFAS.โ€

EWSU officials said in July that the average current city monthly water bill, based on 5,000 gallons of usage, grew this year by $3.10, and increases of $2.83 and $2.30 are scheduled for 2025 and 2026, respectively.

The release from the Terryโ€™s office does not say how long it will take EWSU to review the alternative to a new water treatment plant or how those rates might be impacted. Efforts by Evansville Business to reach Kelson for additional comment werenโ€™t successful.

According to the city, EWSU drilled several monitoring wells and a test well to determine the groundwater quality and find out how much water each well could produce.

Those tests found no detectable levels of PFAS, and that the wells could pump enough water to decrease the cityโ€™s total reliance of surface water.

Using groundwater also would diversify Evansvilleโ€™s water supply so the city is not reliant on a single source of water, the release says. EWSUโ€™s only current water intake structure is on the Ohio River several yards from the riverbank, where it is vulnerable to passing barge traffic.

The cost savings also could allow EWSU to restore a long-term water main improvement program that had been suspended as a cost control measure, according to the release.

Terry, who after her election as mayor hired Kelson away from his prior position with the Bloomington, Indiana, utility, says in the release that she supports EWSUโ€™s exploration of using a groundwater alternative to a new treatment plant.

โ€œBy incorporating groundwater into our water system, we could not only see tremendous financial benefit for the city and all EWSU customers, but we also could see cleaner water from a more diversified water supply,โ€ Terry says. โ€œI encourage Vic and the EWSU team to continue exploring this option, because if their early findings hold true, this has the potential to offer numerous benefits to our entire community.โ€

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Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen
Jodi Keen is the managing editor of Evansville Living and Evansville Business magazines.

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