ST CHARLES, Mo. — A water treatment plant for the City of St. Charles is providing drinking water again, after a shutdown earlier in the week.
In a statement Wednesday, the city said its Elm Point Water Treatment Plant returned to operation after getting the OK from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and confirming the results through independent testing.
Earlier this week, the city said the level of free ammonia in the raw groundwater, which is vital for disinfecting the water, had suddenly dropped for an unidentified reason. The plant has run for 70 years by using the water's naturally occurring ammonia to react with chlorine, which produces mono-chloramines that act as the water distribution system's primary disinfectant, according to a statement from the city.
St. Charles Mayor Dan Borgmeyer said he suspected the changes were due to ongoing cleanup efforts by Ameren at the St. Charles Wellfield.
"What we suspect is Ameren and their process of cleansing the substation has released a lot of chemicals in the soil which stripped out the contaminants, thank you. But it stripped everything else out too," Mayor Dan Borgmeyer said.
Borgmeyer says that includes ammonia, a vital solution for keeping drinking water clean. The city paid more to purchase more water from St. Louis while the treatment plant was closed.
An Ameren spokesperson on Monday gave the following statement:
"We have not received any data or analysis indicating that a report of an issue at the Elm Point Water Treatment Plant is connected to Ameren.
"We remain focused on remediation efforts at our substation. All work has been approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is done under the agency’s supervision. We are committed to continued transparency, and further information is available at AmerenMissouri.com/StCharles."