The Village of Rantoul, Illinois, recently celebrated the reconstruction of the East Water Treatment Plant at a dedication on September 17.

The project was initiated after the Village of Rantoul’s East Water Treatment Plant suffered a catastrophic failure of the facility’s roof on January 4, 2006 (see photo below). The plant’s uniquely constructed 50-year-old wooden arch-roof structure collapsed following a routine filling of a lime slaker’s day bin that was supported by two of the roof’s members. Because of this failure, one-third of the Village’s finished water production capacity was immediately lost and the East Plant was rendered unusable for the upcoming 2006 to 2008 high-demand summer seasons.

While this event required a tremendous cleanup effort, this failure also presented the Village with a unique opportunity to combine the restoration work with additional needed process improvements that would enhance the plant’s operational efficiency.

The Village’s water system operates two independent split-treatment lime softening water plants that are located adjacent to each other. Since no common clearwell exists, the finished water from the two plants is not blended until it reaches the distribution system. Due to the differing treatment processes and chemistries of the water being discharged from the two plants, lime scale buildup was prevalent in the service lines near the plant and the stability of the finished water quality had fluctuated greatly on a daily basis.

A primary goal of the reconstruction project was to minimize the production of this lime scale in the customers’ service lines system and to improve operation of the two plants. Donohue & Associates, Inc. designed several improvements to the plant to meet this goal, including replacement of the inefficient 50-year old “precipitator” type softener in the East Plant with a new Claricone type softener, the addition of carbon dioxide for better pH control of the softened water, and automated control of the selected wells.

Donohue worked closely with the Village’s operations and maintenance personnel throughout the design, to ensure that the improvements were consistent with the Village’s operational goals and objectives.