What is the status of the water treatment plant?
The water treatment system continues to collect groundwater (water beneath the ground) and surface runoff from the plant property and remove high levels of metals before the water is discharged into the Illinois River. The water treatment plant is operating as expected. During heavy rainfall, there have been several bypasses of the system. The system cannot handle the volume of water generated during these unusual events. In almost six years of operation, however, there is no indication that the more heavily contaminated water from the slag pile area bypassed the treatment system. Instead, the water that bypasses the system during these storm events is water from the North Ditch, which has significantly lower concentrations of metals. The improvements to the collection system and management of uncontaminated water have significantly reduced the frequency of bypasses. July 2002. The PRPs submitted a proposal to the Illinois EPA for additional surface water studies. These studies ultimat
