Indiana American Water Company broke ground on a new water treatment facility in Warsaw Thursday afternoon.
The approximately $25 million project will enhance water quality, improve system reliability and enable the company to continue to meet the needs of its Warsaw and Winona Lake customers, according to Alan DeBoy, Indiana American Water president.
The treatment facility will open in fall 2011.
The new Hidden Lake Water Treatment Facility will be at 2440 Hidden Lake Drive, west of Detroit Street and south of U.S. 30, and will provide water treatment to Warsaw and Winona Lake.
Hazen and Sawyer and River City Construction have been selected to design and construct the new facility.
Approximately 60 people attended the groundbreaking ceremony including Warsaw Mayor Ernie Wiggins, Indiana American Water and Indiana Department of Environmental officials, Winona Lake officials and city and county leaders.
Average annual demand at the Warsaw operation is approximately 2.6 million gallons per day with peaks as high as 4.17 million gallons per day.
The new plant and related system improvements will provide up to 6 million gallons per day with the capability to expand to 9 million gallons per day as future demands requires.
Indiana American Water serves more than 4,600 customers or a population of more than 16,000 in its Warsaw service area.
"The new facility will not only help us to meet the water needs of this community, but it will also allow us to deliver quality water service by adding a filtration plant to remove iron and manganese from the community's drinking water," DeBoy said.
Indiana American Water purchased the Warsaw system in 2000 as part of an acquisition of four properties around the state.
A comprehensive planning study was completed last year.
The study identified upgrades and improvements that were essential to enhancing customer service by improving water quality, safety, reliability and efficiency of the Warsaw system.
When completed, the system will enhance water quality by removing iron and manganese through the new treatment processes, provide additional capacity by adding a new wellfield and upgrading current system infrastructure.
It also will enhance safety, efficiency and reliability by using more efficient variable frequency drive pump motors, replace an existing facility located in a flood zone, and replace the existing chlorine gas disinfection system with a safer sodium hypochlorite system.
The project will employ several green building design features and will be submitted for Leadership In Environmental and Energy Design certification upon completion.
