Pottawattamie County emergency managers warn regional water system remains at high conservation level

Mister Reed, director of the county Emergency Management Agency, told the Board of Supervisors that the regional water utility remains at a “level red” advisory and that water use is being limited to “human consumption, food preparation, sanitation, and public safety.”

The update matters because the advisory authorizes restrictions that could include rationing and the county’s towers have been operating near critical levels; Reed said a temporary connection to Council Bluffs Water Works should relieve pressure on well fields but will add only about 20,000 gallons per day. A permanent pump at a site north of Highway 6 is still scheduled for completion in October, Reed said.

Reed summarized the utility’s recent work to connect a temporary pump into a booster station that would allow the regional system to receive bulk water from Council Bluffs. He described repeated technical problems at the site during start-up — trapped air in the lines, undersized piping and pressurization issues — and said engineers recommended increasing the pipe size from two inches to four inches to gain needed pressure. The utility gained roughly 50–60 PSI after bleeding air from the lines but still lacked enough pressure to refill Tower 5.

Reed cautioned that the temporary pump will likely not be a long-term solution. “This temporary pump…is only gonna provide about 20,000 additional gallons of water a day,” he said, adding that the permanent pump would roughly double that capacity. He also noted that some large customers — including an industrial agricultural user in Audubon County — were operating off legacy wells and could use an amount of water comparable with what the temporary pump provides, limiting the short-term benefit of the connection.

Chris Nilsson, GIS analyst, and other GIS staff described a public-facing dashboard the county launched to show tower levels and system status. Nilsson said the dashboard, launched June 6, has had roughly 1,300 views and that tower pages have had about 5,000 views, and that the county made tools available for the regional utility to update the data directly.

Board members asked for operational clarifications. Reed provided recent operational figures: the utility is currently pulling about 730 gallons per minute from well fields while plant output is about 760 gallons per minute; the temporary pump’s contribution will not necessarily reverse pressure problems in every tower because the system is interconnected and complex. He also noted a longer-term planned project — a large parallel pipeline — is on a multi-year schedule but has been accelerated to address the immediate shortage.

Reed said local officials are coordinating daily, issuing briefs three times weekly for local officials and sharing a four-county situation report; he urged bulk users to consider rehabilitation of old wells or additional suppliers as backups. The county has arranged for the city of Avoca to truck water for the county fair to meet animal- and event-related needs.

The board gave no formal directive or vote on emergency authorities during the update; Reed encouraged supervisors to attend the regional briefings and said follow-up funding and coordination among the four counties would be discussed once additional information and cost-sharing options are clearer.

The county’s GIS work drew public praise from Reed and other supervisors for hastening public communication and making daily operational briefs easier to produce. Nilsson said the county’s automation and subscription email has prompted interest from other counties wanting to replicate the dashboard.

Reed closed by thanking partners and urging continued conservation and preparedness as the county moves through summer demand.