Water pipeline to serve rural communities

Greg Kozol, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

Aug. 15—Lots of people turn on the faucet and give little thought to the water that flows out.

Zac Johnson isn't one of those people.

"You turn on your tap and have good clean water," said Johnson, utilities director for the city of Cameron. "It's something a lot of people take for granted. There's a lot of effort that go into ensuring that."

Johnson also serves as chairman of the Great Northwest Wholesale Water Commission, an entity dreamed up nearly two decades ago to solve supply issues that limited rural communities throughout the region.

This summer, part of that dream is becoming reality with about 35 miles of pipeline between St. Joseph and Cameron. Once completed, the network will bring water from St. Joseph to Cameron and Maysville. Missouri American Water will sell to the wholesaler, which will then supply the municipal utility.

To Johnson, the pipeline will reduce the chance of shortages that have worried Cameron officials for decades. The city currently gets its water from four surface reservoirs and will keep that source to buttress the added capacity from Missouri American.

"Cameron has suffered with its water supply for over 100 years," he said. "It's a big step for the city that we're essentially eliminating a century-old problem."

He said Cameron, in the past, has been forced to implement conservation efforts during dry spells in August, although that hasn't been the case this year with bountiful rain in the region.

Johnson said grants and loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture made the project possible. He said the pipeline is about one-third completed and a water tower has been erected about 10 miles outside of Cameron.

The system could go on line next summer.

"We're putting pipe in the ground," he said. "We've got a lot of pipe strung out between Cameron and St. Joe. By this time next year we'll have the water flowing through the pipeline."

The project will not affect rates in St. Joseph.

Greg Kozol can be reached at greg.kozol@newspressnow.com. Follow him on Twitter: @NPNowKozol.