Rend Lake
By the time the Rend Lake Conservancy District completes a $25 million expansion and upgrade to its water treatment facility, some hope plans are already under way for another expansion. This would mean the region is growing by leaps and bounds.
The expansion, now in the design phase, will push the plant's capacity to 27 million gallons a day, about seven million more than the plant can currently handle. Plans call for completion of the project within four years.
The plant serves about 125,000 customers in some 60 communities and water districts. Its current capacity is 20 million gallons with an average daily production of 13.5 million. The most ever produced at the plant came last year when the water needs for the area the district serves reached 19 million gallons a day for several days.
A large industrial client would use about a million gallons a day, The largest industrial user of Rend Lake water is Continental Tire in Mount Vernon which uses about 380,000 gallons of water each day. The Big Muddy Prison comes in second at 200,000 gallons. The conservancy district receives at least half a dozen inquiries each year from businesses or industries asking about the water supply.
October 24, 2006 7:14 AM | Category: Lake, Watershed