THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 26, 1996 TAG: 9604240136
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
The public will have its chance to view the early progress of the Northwest River Water Treatment Plant upgrade at an open house to be held there May 11.
The open house is being held on the last day of National Drinking Water Week, which begins May 5. The purpose of the observance is to promote awareness of how clean and safe drinking water is attained by communities.
At the Northwest plant, the draw will be to see what is being done to obtain good-tasting water in Chesapeake.
The open house will exhibit the initial stages of $61.5 million in improvements to the plant that processes water for half of Chesapeake's residents, who have endured decades of sodium- and chloride-heavy drinking water.
The affected area comprises Great Bridge, Greenbrier, Deep Creek, Rivercrest and most points in between. The other half of Chesapeake residents draw their drinking water from either Portsmouth or Norfolk.
A new system employing reverse osmosis technology is at the heart of the upgrade. Work on this project began at the plant March 15, and is expected to be completed in October 1998.
According to Jerry L. Hoddinott of the Public Utilities Department, the open house will give residents a first-hand look at what the changes are, how much progress has been made and what the new system will mean to the city.
``The more people who can understand what we're doing here, the better,'' said Hoddinott. ``This is public education.''
Hoddinott said the new system features membranes that will block the impurities in the water while allowing clean water to pass, and also reduce impurities resulting from chemical treatments.
Approximately nine million gallons of water are currently drawn from the river each day, said Hoddinott. With the reverse osmosis system, the plant will be capable of drawing 10 million gallons a day. Three million gallons of brine water will be separated by the membranes, leaving seven million gallons of treated water. This seven million will be supplemented by five million gallons drawn from deep wells which, after treatment, will result in an additional three million gallons per day.
The two sides of the new operation will result in five million gallons of brine water. That total will be pumped into the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River each day.
Deep well water, much of it as salty as sea water, could not be used by the current processing technique.
``This is the best technique to treat the water we have to treat,'' said Hoddinott. ``When this plant comes on line, we will have good drinking water.''
The plant, located at 3550 South Battlefield Blvd., will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Each tour will include a question-and-answer session.
The water plant also welcomes tour requests from school groups, said Hoddinott. Frank Sanders, the water resource administrator, can be reached at (804) 421-2146 for more information on school tours. MEMO: More information on the May 11 open house is available by calling the
Public Utilities Department at 547-6356.
by CNB