By Scott Harvey
Greenville – The City of Greenville has become the first Texas municipality to complete a stimulus project with the Texas Water Development Board.
Crews on December 31, 2009 installed six solar powered circulating machines in Reservoir No. 4. The project was completed 30 days ahead of schedule.
The solar powered epilimnetic machines are designed to use power from the sun to aerate the reservoir, helping to alleviate taste and odor problems in the City's drinking water. The City received a $305,000, 30-year, zero-interest loan for the project through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.
The design of the equipment, as well as its use, ranked the City's project as number 22 of 34 Drinking Water State Revolving Fund projects that were funded either partially or completely by the TWDB in 2009.
Greenville has been studying methods to improve taste and odor problem over the past several years and the aeration method has been determined to be the most effective way to resolve those issues. The City continues to sustain a Superior Water Quality Status with the State and is pleased to have completed a project that continues the City's commitment to provide the best service to its customers at an affordable cost.