The South Jacksonville Water Plant in Oxville appears to be just steps away from returning to service.
Public Works Superintendent Brian English was not in attendance at the Village Board meeting held Thursday night but provided a written update to trustees.
English’s note said that conditioning of the plant’s water tanks and some additional training for staff on the softener plant are all expected to occur within the next two to three weeks.
Village President Dick Samples says it’s all contingent upon EPA testing giving the water plant the green light to return to service: “Probably on the 22nd of the month, we have this company coming in to show our staff at the water plant how to run the softener part of the water system. We have not switched over yet or anything. It will be sometime, I’m assuming, August 25th on. That’s a very tentative date. They have to condition the tanks to initially put the water in, and everything goes through the EPA. You make any changes – you send a sample off and they check it. They check it at all stages. With the softness of the water, our intent is to provide as good or better product than we are receiving now from the City of Jacksonville in hopes of keeping the complaints to a minimum.”
English also said in the update that a feature at the Godfrey Park Splash Pad went down last week due to a problem with a leak in the pump house. The feature is in the process of being repaired but the splash pad is still running at its currently normal schedule.