Public can tour 100-year-old Monroe Water Treatment Plant Friday
MONROE — Exactly 100 years ago this Friday, the Monroe Water Treatment Plant began operations.To celebrate, the public can tour the plant and learn the science behind making water safe to drink.
“I’m looking forward to recognizing the plant's anniversary,” said Barry LaRoy, director of water and wastewater utilities for the City of Monroe.
LaRoy is hoping about 180 people attend the celebration. Guided tours will begin hourly from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 1 at the plant, 915 E. Front St. Attendees can see staff at work, learn the history of the plant, including innovations, and hear about treatment processes. Registration is required. “All treatment processes will be discussed: ozone, sedimentation, flocculation, clarification, filtration and disinfection,” LaRoy said.
The Monroe Water Treatment Plant, LaRoy said, is one of the oldest continuously operating plants in Michigan, and it’s also among the most modern. The plant itself employs 11, and the city's water department overall has 31 employees, LaRoy said.
LaRoy has been at the plant since the 1990s and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from Wayne State University. He said the anniversary celebration has been in the works for years. Other City of Monroe staff members have helped with plans.
"It's been really fun putting all of this together," said Amy Mohr, the city's communications specialist.
Although it began operating in 1924, the idea for the Monroe Water Treatment Plant, then called the Monroe Water System, goes back to 1915, when Monroe and the country were experiencing a typhoid fever epidemic. Typhoid fever, according to the Mayo Clinic, is caused by salmonella bacteria in food and untreated water.
The epidemic highlighted the need for clean water. In response, the Monroe City Commission began organizing a water treatment plant. According to research by Kevin Nash, Monroe voters passed a bond to build the $40,000 plant (worth $7.1 million today). The city purchased the current site on Front Street and built a structure that could grow in the future. Its first day of operation was March 1, 1924.
“Since then, the plant has been instrumental in ensuring a consistence supply of safe drinking water to the community, effectively eradicating typhoid fever from the area,” the plant said in a news release.At first, the Monroe Water Treatment Plant cleaned 4 million gallons of a water a day and served less than 11 miles. By 1972, because of expansions, it was treating up to 18 million gallons a day. Since 1924, the plant has pumped more than 185.5 billion gallons of water. Today, the plant serves 117 square miles, 12 communities and more than 16,000 customers. The plant has more than 309 miles of water piping, three storage tanks and two underground reservoirs.
Some of the technologies added over the years include the 1924 coagulation-sedimentation basin and ozonating facilities in the 1970s.
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“The journey to a century was not without challenges. Improvements and expansion were necessary to ensure that the water our citizens depend on meets all state and federal water standards while maintaining an uninterrupted supply,” LaRoy said. “As regulations have changed over the last 100 years, we’ve had to adapt to do what’s necessary to meet requirements and optimize our system. Our employees are committed to delivering excellence to our customers and community.”
The Monroe Water Treatment Plant has been recognized for its innovations in the water treatment industry and for its long history. It received historic designations from the Monroe County Historical Commission and from the American Water Works Association, which declared it "An American Water Landmark" in 1985.
— Contact reporter Suzanne Nolan Wisler at swisler@monroenews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Public can tour 100-year-old Monroe Water Treatment Plant Friday
