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Water Well Project Topic Of Public Hearing in Falls City

By John Nixon

10/07/2014

(KLZA)-- A public hearing was held Monday night during the Falls City Council meeting concerning an engineering report for construction of a collector water well / and improvements at the water treatment plant at Rulo. The hearing is a requirement for the City to be eligible for a State Revolving Loan from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

It became apparent during the 2011 flood along the Missouri River that the well field, consisting of wells built between 1940 and 1972 were in danger and that threatens the water supply to a major portion of Richardson County. Rural Water District #2 which supplies water to Salem and Verdon and a large part of eastern Richardson County buys water from the water plant at Rulo as does the City of Rulo.

Utility Superintendent Alan Romine explained the three options to safeguard the water supply. These included raising the existing wells above flood stage, secondly drilling four new wells with a capacity larger than currently available and the selected option of installing a collector well and keeping three old wells as an emergency backup.

There are a lot of federal hoops to jump through with such a project. Romine said the City plans to create more clear well storage at the water plant and installation of more monitoring equipment.

The initial cost projection was $2.3-million but inflation has increased the expected cost to 2.5 to 2.8-million dollars.

A loan would include a 20-year payback with a 20-percent principal forgiveness. The hope is to get the project underway as soon as possible.

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