Director of public works says strange taste in Quincy’s drinking water should be gone by mid-week

QUINCY — If you thought your drinking water tasted funny on Monday, you weren’t alone in that opinion.

Jeffrey Conte, director of public works for the city, says that bleach-like taste should be gone by Wednesday.

“Yes, it’s safe to drink,” Conte said during Monday’s meeting of the Quincy City Council at the Quincy Public Library. “Esthetic concerns are not related to any health issues.”

Conte said heavy rains last week forced the level of the Mississippi River to jump quickly.

“We think it was just a wash-off,” he said. “A lot of the material upstream of us had been underwater for an extended period of time, so a lot of vegetation would have died. When that dies, it rots, it gets in the water, and It adds just a tiny bit of organics to the water, which leads to an off taste.

“We caught it. We actually noticed it (Sunday) night, and we started getting calls (Sunday) night. We checked the water plant. The water that was leaving the facility tasted fine (Sunday) afternoon, tasted fine today.”

Sodium permanganate, used by city officials upstream to break up organics in the water before it gets to the treatment plant, is a strong oxidant used to control taste and odors, remove color, control biological growth in treatment plants and remove iron and manganese.

Conte said the city’s water treatment plant has roughly 20 million gallons in storage. The city used 8 million gallons on Monday.

“Theoretically, it’s two, two and a half days to turn everything over, and that started (Sunday),” Conte said. “I’m hoping by Wednesday it’ll be all cleared up, but we apologize. Obviously, we want the water to taste good all the time, but when you’re depending on the river as a source, there are things beyond our control. This is something that happens occasionally, especially following flooded conditions.”

Aldermen also approved the low bid for $1.961 million from Rees Construction for the water treatment plant pump station contract “C” project, which consists of the rehabilitation of the brick intake well built around 1900, the replacement of buried 20-foot and 24-foot piping, replacement of the site stormwater pumping system and other related improvements.

The bids for contract ‘C’ included a $685,000 alternate bid for the construction of bypass piping around the existing 1-million-gallon clearwell reservoir. Conte wrote in a memo to aldermen that this work is not necessary to complete the water treatment plant pump station project, but it is needed to allow the clearwell to be drained, cleaned and inspected. The existing concrete clearwell has deteriorated and has multiple cracks and holes that leak water. 

Conte wrote that two more contracts remain to be issued to complete the $10 million rehabilitation project. The first is a contract for re-grading the site to correct drainage issues. This contract, with an estimated value of $200,000, will be issued for bidding in the spring of 2025. The second contract is for the replacement of the water treatment plant pump station windows, which has an estimated cost of $500,000. It will be postponed to Fiscal Year 2026 to build up sufficient funds.

In other action, aldermen:

• Approved the low quote of $11,919.50 from Core and Main of Washington, Ill., to buy pipe, pipe fittings and valves for the extension of a sludge line.
• Approved a proposal from Shottenkirk Kia of Quincy for $31,593.03 to buy a 2025 Kia Sportage.
• Approved the low bid from Reliant Gases of Pampa, Texas, for liquid carbon dioxide at the cost of $325 per ton for the treatment of drinking water.
• Approved quotes totaling $38,055 from Core and Main of Washington, Ill., for stock items used for the maintenance and repair of underground water infrastructure.
• Approved an invoice from Richards Electric Motor Company for $10,170.17 for the repair of a failed motor control at the wastewater treatment plant.
• Approved an invoice from Richards Electric Motor Co. for $16,704.63 to connect ammonia monitoring equipment to the wastewater treatment plant’s SCADA system.
• Approved an invoice from Klingner and Associates for $11,073.88 for services to assist with surveying and design for the rehabilitation of the intake well and grading around the pump station site.
• Approved an invoice for $8,243.31 from Shannon Chemical Corporation of Malvern, Pa., to buy sodium permanganate.
• Approved an invoice from Rees Construction Co. for $45,418.41 for the emergency repairs to a defective sewer in the 900 block of South 12th.
• Approved a flood insurance premium payment for $8,235 to Wright National Flood Insurance Company of St. Petersburg, Fla.
• Permitted the Quincy Area Convention and Visitors Bureau to display a banner across Fifth and Maine promoting the BBQ and Bands event benefiting Horizons of Quincy from Sept. 10-23.
• Permitted the St. Peter’s Picnic Committee to hold its annual parish picnic from 5 p.m. to midnight on Aug. 24.
• Permitted Niemann General Contracting requesting to rezone property at 1700 Koch’s Lane from single-family residential to neighborhood residential) to allow for the construction of multiple owner-occupied condominiums.