THE MACIVOR DRIVE water treatment plant is expected to be operational early next month, according to city officials.
Cairo’s newly rehabilitated water treatment plant on MacIvor Drive should be operational next month, according to Cairo City Manager Chris Addleton.
The city manager updated the city council on the project during their regularly scheduled meeting Monday night. Addleton said software testing is underway and he anticipated the plant being operational by early March.
The plant has been off-line since 2018 as a multimillion dollar rehabilitation project was undertaken.
The MacIvor Drive plant has arsenic treatment capabilities similar to the new treatment plant at the Cairo Municipal Airport.
Addleton says this is the first time since the mid-1990s that the city has had a reliable, safe, redundant supply of drinking water. Prior to the new airport water plant going online in December 2016, the MacIvor Drive plant was the city’s only treatment facility for municipal water.
The cost of the project was $4,518,477. The contractor on the job was Standard Contractors of Valdosta.
The city borrowed $2.5 million from the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority to help finance the project. G.E.F.A. is forgiving $500,000 of that total. The balance of the funds were drawn from the city’s Municipal Competitive Trust account, which is a cash reserve fund for the city.
The City of Cairo is the only city in this area that is currently treating for arsenic in its drinking water supply.
