JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown Public Works Committee recommended approval on Tuesday, Sept. 20, to replace two lime press machines at the water treatment plant for more than $1.6 million.

Two filter presses, which are 29 years old, used in the water-softening treatment process experienced major breakdowns earlier this summer. The filter presses remove water from the lime sludge used to soften the drinking water.

The city of Jamestown uses well water, which is relatively hard and needs to be softened. The lime — the main treatment component to soften the water — is added as a softening agent and helps pull the iron and manganese from the water to lower the calcium and total hardness of the water.

During the water softening treatment process, the water treatment plant ends up with a lot of lime sludge that gets sent to the lime press room to be removed. The press filters extract the water from the sludge itself and leave the particulate behind.

Joseph Rowell, water superintendent, recommended sidebar presses.

An alternative to replace the presses would have been to rebuild the machinery at an estimated cost of more than $700,000.