West Chicago, Ill., Builds Treatment Facility to Reduce Radium

Shortly after Jan. 1, West Chicago, Ill., residents will have softer water as clean as the Lake Michigan water nearby towns get from their taps.

West Chicago has until the end of the year to complete construction on an $18 million water plant that meets EPA's deadline to lower levels of radium. The water will also be softer and contain less iron.

West Chicagoans "will get the same quality of water as those who drink from Lake Michigan, at a significantly lower cost," City Administrator Michael Guttman told Harry Hitzeman of The Daily Herald.

The plant is part of a $30 million city-wide water system renovation that includes an variety of new water mains.

"We're removing the radium," David English, West Chicago utilities superintendent, told Hitzeman. "We decided to go ahead and vastly improve water quality by filtering out iron and all the other stuff in well water."

Source: The Daily Herald