Industrial

Clean water

New water plant to see gradual opening in the community

writer: TONYA S. GRACE

The new Cadiz Water Treatment Plant is ready for operation and will be introduced gradually in the community as officials bring it online initially in the area surrounding Interstate 24.

Cadiz Public Works Director Kerry Fowler said the Kentucky Division of Water has recommended bringing the new plant online gradually to ensure that everything is working properly.

Following its introduction around I-24, the plant will next be operational in the Kings Chapel area and on the east side of town, followed lastly in the remaining parts of the county.

Fowler said earlier this week that officials were planning for the new facility to become operational on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

“We’ve been doing in-house testing for the last three weeks,” the public works director noted. “Everything is very good, actually impressive with what we have seen so far.

“All pump testing, equipment testing and water testing has come back great,” he added.

Fowler said the new facility replaces the old plant on Spring Street, which utilizes a media filtration system on which 90% of water plants worldwide rely. The new Cadiz plant will feature membrane filtration, a technique that will do an even better job of cleaning the water.

While media filtration removes particles 40 to 50 times smaller than the hairs on a human head, Fowler said membrane filtration removes particles 200 times smaller than a human hair.

He noted that the new plant will meet any growth the community has for years to come, offers plenty of room and can easily be expanded. It’s capable of producing 2.1 million gallons of water a day and will make hard water and its high mineral content a thing of the past.

“One of the biggest complaints we have with our current water is (that) it’s very hard,” said Fowler, explaining that officials are looking for water that will be about half as hard.

The director also noted that officials are anticipating an economic boost from the plant.

“That’s what we feel,” Fowler observed, noting that “if potential industry was to come in, it would have to be appealing to them to look across the street and see a water treatment plant.”

Cadiz Mayor Todd King extolled the benefits of the new water system, noting that it’s long overdue and is great for the community and the city to have such a state-of-the-art facility.

“My hat’s off to Kerry,” the mayor added of the public works director and his efforts shepherding the project to completion. “He’s been faithful up there the last two years overseeing it and everything, and I just think it’s great for our community.”

Fowler noted that there was still some painting left to do “and some odds and ends” to complete on the new facility, which is located in Industrial Park 3 off U.S. 68.

The Cadiz Water Treatment Plant has about 2,500 customers including households, industry and businesses, and its five employees, the five water treatment plant operators who have been working at the old plant, will move to the new facility, according to the director.

Fowler said the old facility will be closed and probably will be dismantled in the near future.

Given the restrictions of COVID-19, he said there will be no grand opening for the new plant, although officials hope to do something in the spring “so the public can see what we’ve got.”

The mayor also invited residents to keep watch on the city website at cadiz. ky.gov for a potential virtual grand opening for the new facility.

The plant broke ground in 2018 and cost around $9 million to build.

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