Illinois American Water took out a new permit from the city of Streator for a $4.1 million upgrade project.

Illinois American Water is upgrading the treatment plant in South Streator, which has been annexed into the city.

Included in the upgrade is a permanent carbon feed system. The temporary carbon feed system will remain to be used in other parts of the treatment plant. A slurry tank, which mixes carbon and water before it goes into the pumps for treatment, also is being installed.

As part of the project, the water company is replacing mixers which have been in use since about 1955. Filter control panels are being upgraded as are old valves and controllers.

A third filter is being built in a standalone building. The Environmental Protection Agency's 10-State Standards regulates how much flow can go through the filters. According to Dave Clifton, Operations Superintendent of the Streator district, the two existing filters are not enough to meet the EPA's standards.

Another part of the project is a pumping station to filter backwash at a rate of 8,000 gallons per minute a piece. This will be used in conjunction with the existing elevated tank.

Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) upgrades to monitor plant operations and more flow meters are also part of the upgrade.

The cost breakdown for the parts of the project are as follows: mixers, $500,000; filters, $2 million; carbon seed filter system, $500,000 and backwash pump system, $500,000.

Illinois American Water currently employs six people at the water treatment facility. Clifton does not foresee any jobs being created by the project. The company has hired an engineer and contractors to put the concept and cost together while at the same time working on the project. Clifton said many of the subcontractors are local businesses.

Illinois American Water serves approximately 19,000 customers in the Streator area.

Clifton expects the whole project to be completed by summer, 2010.