The city has received permission from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a pilot study of a membrane filtration process. 

Consulting engineer John Calise of Benton & Associates said Monday he believes it will yield data resulting in state approval for the system to be used in the Macomb Water Plant on a permanent basis.

  Another engineering consultant, Eddie McCall of Camp-Dresser-McKee, told alderman the treatment of water from Spring Lake with membrane filtration technology is "a step up in your treatment process."

  Calise said the pilot study would take one year to complete.  Macomb Public Works Director Walter Burnett later said the water plant could have the new system online by June, 2010.

  "We’ll have the IEPA with us, hand in hand, as we show we can meet or exceed the state regulations," McCall predicted.

  City resident Jim VonKannon, who has challenged the Benton plan on several occasions, said he feels the city can get a lot more mileage out of its current sand filtration system before it needs to spend $3.5 million on the membrane process.  He suggested adding a second sand filtration system and running a blended mixture of lake and surface water through it.

  Calise said this would necessitate building a plant addition and cost about as much as the membrane proposal.  "You’re getting better treatment with the membrane," he told aldermen.  "You’ll exceed regulations.  Sand filters will just let you meet regulations."

   The engineer said his firm will ask the Macomb City Council next week to authorize a request for proposal from a membrane manufacturer.  "We feel there are two viable companies that we’d like to compare," said Calise, indicating that presentations could be scheduled by mid-August.

  Burnett later stated that the city would probably be ready to launch its pilot study in late September.

  Aldermen voted unanimously to have the RFP request placed on the council consent agenda.  This means it could be approved next week without any further discussion.

  Council members also heard from City Attorney John McMillan regarding his legal opinion, issued last week, that the city has given operational rights to all but two of its parks to the Macomb Park District.

  McMillan said that he and Park Board Attorney Bill Poncin did the legal research together, and that Poncin will write a separate opinion to be presented to the board tomorrow.  "None of this changes the fact that we have to go forward with some type of intergovernmental agreement," he said.

  The city and park district have been going back and forth for months on the district’s request for city renewal of an agreement to allow the district to continue to manage Spring Lake Park and Campground.  The district had also included fees for work at Glenwood and Compton parks, which McMillan’s opinion said are already covered by the district’s tax revenues.

  Mayor Mick Wisslead expressed the desire to meet with Park Board President Lois Nickson, with McMillan and Poncin present as well.  "I’d like to see us work on a cooperative venture," he said.  "I’d like to see us agree on an amendment of ordinances where it makes sense."

  Aldermen said they would await word from Tuesday’s scheduled park board meeting as to what the next steps might be.

  After the council committee of the whole meeting, Wisslead was upbeat.  "I’m really optimistic, and I feel there’s a lot of sentiment in the community that way, too," said the mayor.