Cape Girardeau prepares for water system upgrades following rate cap increase

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo.(KBSI) — City officials excited about moving forward with water infrastructure improvements after voters approved to increase the annual cap on the cities water rate.

“We’re really excited that we can continue to move forward on some of the projects that we’ve been talking about for quite some time,” said Casey Brunke, Cape Girardeau’s public works director.

The city plans to expand its water treatment plant, a project that has been in the works for years.

Brunke said while the design phase is already underway, construction is expected to begin within the next year.

“We’ve been working on it for quite some time,” she said. “It is a lengthy project, not only in design but also in construction, so we’re happy to continue that process and hopefully get our plant expanded so we can continue to produce the water our city needs to expand and grow.”

In addition to the treatment plant upgrades, the city will begin working on aging water mains.

“A lot of the work we need to do is underground,” Brunke said. “We know where the water mains are, but we had not started designing any of them yet, not knowing if this [ballot measure] would pass. So we’ll get started on those.”

Brunke discusses that Cape Girardeau’s water rates remain low compared to neighboring communities.

Even with the increase, she said the impact on most households would be minimal.

“For someone who uses 5,000 gallons of water a month, which we know is more than the average household, a 15% increase would only be about $4.71 more” she said.

City officials hope the additional cap will support much needed upgrades to ensure a reliable water supply for Cape Girardeau’s growing population.