$87M water plant goes online
Tb News Source | Web Posted: 6/8/2007 5:17:31 PM
http://www.tbsource.com/localnews/index.asp?cid=96854
The taps were officially turned on at the city's new Bare Point Water Treatment Plant Friday.The mayor, members of parliament, city administration, and residents gathered for the grand opening ceremony to celebrate the completion of what many refer to as Thunder Bay's new state-of-the-art facility. The $87 million project will not only improve the city's drinking water, but will also help protect the world's largest fresh water lake.
After years of debate, hours upon hours in council chambers, and endless amounts of work Friday marked a 'monumental step' for the City of Thunder Bay. Since 2004, improvements to the Bare Point plant, which was originally constructed in 1903, have been taking place. Upgrades are in place that brings the plant to world status. Mayor Lynn Peterson says she has been waiting for this day for most of the decade.
Manager of Engineering Pat Mauro, says
the new Zeeweed 1000 Version 3 Ultra-Filtration system , allows the city to use less chemicals during the treatment process so the water that will be pumped back into Lake Superior will be of better quality as well.
The improvements allow the plant to process more water per day. From 14 million gallons the production capacity now sits at 25 million gallons going through the treatment plant each day.
A majority of city residences will now be supplied with water from the Bare Point plant, however the Loch Lomond facility is still on-line, expected to be decommissioned at the end of the year.
With this new system, water will be going into Lake Superior cleaner than when it was taken out.
(Bananas added by me)