A Busy Year at the Water Department

I’m not sure how time goes by so fast, but every time I blink, it seems like another month has gone by. 

It could be that every day here at the Water Department, we have a variety of projects, maintenance, and other tasks always waiting for us.  When that happens, it seems like the hours move by extremely fast.  While time moving by so quickly is not that much fun, it is fun to look back and see all the accomplishments we’ve achieved over the year, a year that is not quite over yet. 

Since the last time I highlighted our projects, we completed the following:

In November 2025, we took on a quick water main extension on South 11th Street to accommodate new and future development.  This project involved installing approximately 650 feet of new water main, and had us working until mid-December until it was completed.

In January and February, we took on the task of cleaning and inspecting our two reservoirs, which combine to hold approximately eight million gallons of water.  Also, in February we finished building our new “chlorine building” and disinfectant system, which may be what I write about in my next blog.

In March and April, while planning and preparing for the upcoming construction projects, we continued to perform never-ending water system maintenance, such as exercising valves, flowing hydrants, and repairing a wide variety of system components. 

During the late spring and summer months, we worked diligently on our largest project of the year, replacing approximately 2,000 feet of 6-inch water main on 7th Street, from Grant Street to Garfield Street, with a new 8-inch water main.  Usually when I tell people this, it is downplayed to discussing just the “water main pipe” itself.  However, these projects have a lot of components.  We need to tie in the new water main with existing water mains, which basically means we need a variety of fittings to get all the pipes connected to keep water flowing.  During these water main replacements, we also replace fire hydrants that are at the end of their life expectancy.  Once the water main can be put into service, we then start transferring your water service lines onto the new water main…one at a time.  In the case of 7th Street, there were approximately 30 water services that we had to transfer onto the new water main. 

As we began wrapping up the 7th Street project, we started the process to install a new water main at the Beatrice Commons development (South of 19th Street and Scott Street).  On this site, we are installing approximately 1,100 feet of new 6-inch water main to serve the developing neighborhood, which includes 32 lots and one three-story apartment building. 

In addition to our construction projects, the Water Department has numerous water system and service repairs that pop up every week.  We also install and remove service taps as necessary.  And of course, we repair any main break as quickly as possible when those surface. 

Other priority maintenance includes annual tests on approximately 450 backflow devices throughout the city, flowing over 750 fire hydrants, and exercising over 1,150 water main valves. 

As you’ve read, the Water Department has a lot of responsibility when it comes to construction, repairs, and maintenance throughout the year.  I hope to touch on a variety of other topics in the future, such as wells, pumps, testing samples, meters, services, EPA and DWEE requirements, equipment, and much more. 

Until then, I hope you all have a great week and happy football season!

Rob Mierau
Water Superintendent