Iowa Rural Water Association names Adel as 2022 Community of the Year
The Iowa Rural Water Association recently announced that Adel has been named the 2022 Community of the Year. This award was presented to city representative Kip Overton during the Iowa Rural Water Association’s 48th Annual Conference held on Feb. 20-22 at the Veteran’s Memorial Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center in Des Moines.
This award is presented to an outstanding community who exceeds the expectations of their citizens with reliable, quality services. At the last census, Adel’s population increased by 67%, making it one of the five fastest growing communities in Iowa. To address aging infrastructure and meet the current and future demands of the anticipated population growth, the city partnered with McClure Engineering in the planning, design, and construction of water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure investments throughout the community.
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Beginning in 2018, construction began on two new source water wells with backup power supply and a new raw water transmission main. Concurrently, the construction of a new water treatment plant, utilizing pressure filtration, biological manganese removal and reverse osmosis membrane softening was commenced. Adjacent to the treatment plant a new 0.75MG ground storage reservoir and high service pumping facility was constructed. Plans were also made to address pressure and flow constraints in parts of the distribution system.
Sanitary sewer and wastewater treatment improvements were also necessary for the city to address. The city’s continuous discharge aerated lagoon was nearing maximum capacity and the city was faced with new nutrient reduction compliance standards as part of forthcoming NPDES regulations. Further, as the community was growing, so too were needs to provide sanitary service to meet demands in new service areas. Construction began on a new SBR wastewater treatment plant at the site of the existing lagoon system. The new plant consists of a new headworks facility with screening and grit removal, SBR treatment with BNR capabilities and enhancements to encourage granular sludge development and UV disinfection. The existing lagoon facilities were repurposed for sludge storage and flow equalization. Hydraulic studies were conducted and improvements made to address existing problems within the system and add infrastructure to handle expected growth. In total approximately $26.0M of sanitary utility infrastructure improvements have been designed and constructed as part of these projects.
As if the above were not enough, the city also took on multiple stormwater improvement projects to address stormwater collection and conveyance needs during this time. Five total projects were designed and constructed totaling $1.7M.
To finance the above work, the city worked with its consulting, legal, and financing partners for the more than $50M of total water, sewer and stormwater utility improvements. Funded through USDA-RD loans and grants, 28E partner contributions, WTFAP grants, and city funds, the city was able to finance these projects to meet their current and future needs.
Through hard work by city staff, and collaboration with consulting, legal, and funding agency partners, the city is positioned well to meet the utility needs of the city for decades to come. And this is why the city of Adel was named Iowa Rural Water’s 2022 Community of the Year.
This article originally appeared on Dallas County News: Iowa Rural Water Association names Adel as 2022 Community of the Year
