Cape Girardeau’s water system is under pressure — literally and figuratively. Years of wear and tear, aging equipment, and limited funding have stretched the city’s ability to consistently provide reliable water to its residents. Now, with a critical vote on the horizon, city leaders note that without change, the system could fall further into crisis.
Clean water is something most people don’t think twice about. But in Cape Girardeau, that everyday comfort is becoming more fragile. In February, the city’s primary treatment facility — the Cape Rock Water Plant — saw a key piece of machinery fail, cutting water production by more than 3 million gallons a day. Though repairs were made, city officials said that was only a temporary solution, and more breakdowns could come sooner than anyone would like.
A System Built for a Smaller City
The Cape Rock Water Plant has been serving the city for decades. Back when it opened in 1931, Cape Girardeau had less than half of the people it does today. Now, the system is being pushed to its limits, and it has been starting to show for the past few years.
One of the plant’s core components, known as Clarifier 1, failed Feb. 12, 2025. A water clarifier helps make water cleaner by getting rid of small particles and debris. That single malfunction left the city scrambling to meet demand as summer approaches. Even with backup systems running full tilt, officials worried that another unexpected failure could leave residents with limited water or even force conservation measures.
That clarifier is fixed — for now. But city officials warn that patchwork repairs aren’t enough. In addition, the city had to pay for this fix out of its emergency reserve, one that could go into the negatives by 2027 without additional funding.
What’s needed is a series of upgrades to the plant’s aging infrastructure — and that takes money.
“It requires a lot of funding,” said JJ Ridings, the local manager of Alliance Water Resources. “There's almost $100 million of projects identified, and most of that is main replacement. And we don't have the funding for it.”
Money Is Tight, and the Clock Is Ticking
Cape’s water system operates on an “enterprise fund.” That means it pays for itself through the fees people pay on their monthly bills — not through general tax revenue. But here’s the problem: those rates are capped by the city charter at just a 5% annual increase.
And 5% isn’t enough anymore.
A recent study commissioned by the city found that more than $56 million in water system repairs are needed over the next decade — with another $60 million potentially on the horizon. As things stand, the city doesn’t have the money to cover even the first half of that.
“We keep looking for federal grants and state grants. We look at our own budgets to see where we can actually pull money from. The 9 million came from money out of that enterprise fund that we had saved, and we'll move forward, but we desperately need to raise the rates so we can fund larger projects to move Cape forward,” said Trevor Pulley, Assistant City Manager of Cape Girardeau.
Pulley isn’t being dramatic. If nothing changes, city reserves — the rainy-day fund used to cover emergencies — could run dry by 2027. After that, Cape Girardeau would be flying blind, with no backup and no way to handle future breakdowns.
Lessons from a Failed Vote
This isn’t the first time Cape voters have faced this issue. In November 2024, a similar measure failed. That result left the city without the flexibility it needs to qualify for key grants or fund major upgrades.
JJ Ridings puts it plainly: “If the money’s not there, there’s not a whole lot we can do.” The city is still moving forward with small fixes — like removing a bottleneck in the plant’s filter gallery that could free up 500,000 gallons a day — but that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 11 million gallons the city expects to need in the future.
Even worse, the city doesn’t qualify for certain state or federal grants because its water rates are so low. Without additional funding, Cape Girardeau is stuck in a bit of a paradox. It can’t raise enough money through current rates, and it can’t get help from outside sources either, since rates aren’t high enough to qualify.
“We weren’t supposed to hit a day that had a peak usage of 9 million gallons until 2040, and we hit that 4 or 5 times this year already,” Ridings said in an interview in December. He noted that this increased usage, especially in dry years when irrigation demands rise, is putting pressure on the city's water system. “We’re already at the usage of what wasn’t expected until 2040. That’s kind of scary going forward.”
A New Charter Vote in August
To address the crisis, the City Council may place a new measure on the August 5, 2025, ballot. If approved, it would raise the current cap on water, sewer, and trash rate increases from 5% to 15% annually. Even though this ballot is nearly identical to the one in November in terms of what it would do, city officials seek to change the language on it to make it easier for voters to understand.
That extra money would go toward big-ticket items: replacing old pipes, expanding storage capacity, and eventually adding a fourth clarifier at Cape Rock to provide better backup. Some of the city’s water mains are more than a century old, and they’re failing more often. Breaks are expensive, disruptive, and can create health risks if not addressed quickly.
A Community Decision
City leaders are hoping this time around, voters will see what’s at stake. Water is often invisible—until something goes wrong. But with another summer approaching, and more strain on the system every year, the question is no longer if the city needs upgrades — it’s whether voters are willing to help fund them.
“The more people talk about it and realize how important it is, the better,” Ridings said.
In August, Cape Girardeau could face a pivotal choice — to revisit a proposal for the city's water future that voters already rejected once, but would give the city the funding it needs for years to come.
