March 28, 2024
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Fox Metro Water Reclamation District to host open house

Ribbon-cutting for newly expanded plant near Montgomery part of Oct. 19 event

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Area residents will be able to tour the newly expanded Fox Metro Water Reclamation District plant on Route 31 near Montgomery during an open house set for Saturday, Oct. 19 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The open house will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new facilities at 682 State Route 31, live demonstrations, food and refreshments.

Felix the Fox will meet and greet visitors and activities for children will be part of the event.

In addition, those attending can bring-in old medications for proper disposal.

Those attending are asked to park in Lot 1 at the nearby Caterpillar plant. Shuttles will transport visitors to the open house. Handicapped accessible options will be available upon request. For additional information, please email Fox Metro at info@foxmetro.org or call 630-892-4378.

Located along the west bank of the Fox River for nearly a century, Fox Metro provides wastewater treatment for almost 300,000 people who reside in Oswego, Montgomery, Aurora, North Aurora, Sugar Grove, unincorporated Boulder Hill and portions of Yorkville and Batavia.

Construction on the plant expansion to the south of the agency's existing plant began in early 2016. The expanded plant will allow Fox Metro to meet revised Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines governing the processing of phosphorus.

According to the agency's website, the EPA tasked Fox Metro with reducing the level of phosphorus in the Fox River effective this year. Phosphorus enters the watershed system through fertilizer runoff from farms and lawns, and from human waste through wastewater, which Fox Metro then receives and treats. Within four years, the new plant will eliminate 67 percent of phosphorus in Fox Metro’s discharged water.

Phosphorus is a nutrient that depletes dissolved oxygen in water and may cause offensive conditions, such as algae blooms. The Fox River is part of the Mississippi River watershed, the fourth-largest river system in the world, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. There, impaired water contributes to “Gulf Hypoxia,” or low-oxygen zones. The water in these “dead zones” does not contain enough dissolved oxygen to support marine life. Removing more phosphorus from all Mississippi River tributaries may help alleviate Gulf Hypoxia and improve the ecosystem for aquatic plants, animals and other organisms within the Fox River and the entire Mississippi watershed, according to the website.

To finance the project, Fox Metro was awarded a $92 million revolving loan from the state of Illinois to be repaid at an interest rate of 1.85 percent over 20 years. The agency will pay off the loan with user fees that agency officials have previously estimated will cost an average family of four an additional $16.50 per year.