The Water Department has been working on water main replacement projects this budget year. This budget year we replaced the water main on North 5th Street from High to Washington Street. The second project was a water main replacement on West Scott Street from Sumner to Sherman Street. And the third project is probably the largest water main replacement project done by staff. This was on West Court Street (US Highway 136) from Sumner to Sherman Street. Being on the highway, this project required more planning with traffic control and the replacement of the city-owned water services.
The first project was necessary to add better fire protection in the middle school area. This was a recommendation we had from our past water studies. By increasing the water main size, we more than doubled the available water to this area.
The second project on West Scott Street was necessary due to the ditch work done prior to resurfacing the roadway.
The third project on West Court was to improve the fire flows in the area and remove the existing water main out of the traffic lane.
All the above water main projects were completed by City crews.
The Water Department was also notified that we were able to get some interest-free monies with a 30-year payback. We have selected several projects to fund using these dollars. First of all, a farm property adjacent to the existing wellfield was for sale and it was determined that this land should be purchased for possible expansion of the wellfield when the need arises in the future. This purchase will add 174 acres to the wellfield.
There also was a need to get a second feed of low nitrate water to Beatrice. We needed more redundancy to assure we had low nitrate water for use if the present transmission line should fail. It was determined to reroute an additional water main to tie into the water transmission main coming from the old wellfield.
Also, we have determined that we need more backup power in the event of power failures. We have decided to add another generator at the city farm wellfield and an additional generator at the south reservoir to give us adequate equipment in case of long-term power failures.
Lastly, the water mains on 4th Street from Market to Grant Street, on Market from 3rd to 6th Street, and Court Street from 4th to 16th Street will be replaced. These water replacement projects are too large for our crews to handle and will be contracted out and probably be done in 2022 & 2023.
As you can see, these are busy times for the department.
Steve Kelley,
Water Superintendent