Better tasting drinking water may be less than two years away.

“The construction period is 18 months,” Mayor Dan Cougill said. “And that clock is supposed to start this month.”

Cougill said meetings with the contractor, River City Construction, L.L.C. of Benton, the design engineers Crawford, Murphy and Tilly, Inc. and city staff members will begin this and next week.

These pre-construction meetings will determine who is doing what, when.

“We would like to see construction start this year,” Cougill said. “The 18 months is assuming we can get started this year.”

Contractors will be tearing down the current water treatment plant utilities building and developing a larger, more efficient treatment plant on that land.

“We have to keep treating water during construction,” Cougill said.

The current plant will remain operational throughout construction and workers in utilities will continue their work in various city buildings.

Last week, Charleston City Council approved a $260,000 bid, allowing Crawford, Murphy and Tilly, Inc. to work alongside River City during construction.

Mitsubishi Electric Power Plant, Inc. will be joining in the new water treatment plant process, implementing ozone into treatment procedures for a test period.

“By adding ozone, we will address taste and odor problems,” Cougill said.

The entire redevelopment decision sparked in response to federal Environmental Protection Agency requirement changes.

“We did not meet turbidity standards,” Cougill said. “It had nothing to do with the water not being safe to drink.”

The city was forced to decide between modifying the current plant and developing a new one.

Cougill said meeting the requirements with the existing plant could have been both more difficult and more costly than constructing a new water treatment plant.

Beyond the ozone aspect, Cougill said the treatment process will change very little.

“How much contact time, how much time is spent treating water will significantly change.”

These plans should greatly increase water quality.

“We want to make the best water in the state of Illinois, and we think we can do that,” Cougill said in a previous interview.

City editor Carly Mullady can be reached at [email protected].