Glasgow Secures Funds for Water System

The City of Glasgow has secured rural development funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to proceed with a plan to upgrade the city's water infrastructure. According to City Manager Robert Kompel, the plan will provide resources on upgrading equipment inside the water treatment plant, at pumping stations throughout Glasgow and the water line and at the intake station along the Missouri River.

"This is the culmination of five years of effort to get this project going," said Kompel discussing the amount of time and planning that has gone into the over $8 million project. Kompel said the focus was to upgrade an infrastructure that was first established in the early 1960s and had received few upgrades since.

"It will make improvements to the pumping, distribution and treatment systems," said Kompel adding that the plan, once complete, will improve service to over 1,500 individuals throughout Glasgow.

In detail, the entire project will cost $8,854,500 and the funding will come from a series of USDA rural development (RD) loans and grants, city funds and a Treasure State Endowment Program (TSEP) Grant. The breakdown will be:

Two RD loans totaling $7,145,000; an RD grant for $813,600; the TSEP grant will cover $500,000; and the city will be on the hook for $395,900 of the remaining balance.

Kompel stated the infrastructure has been in need of upgrading for sometime, but that the Water Department has worked diligently to keep the system working.

"The staff have been great at keeping things running, but you reach a point where you can't find parts anymore," commented Kompel before discussing instances where manufacturers could not produce the parts needed to maintain the equipment, or cases in which they had been warned that once the stock runs out the parts would no longer be available.

The city manager said that the only other major upgrade to the water system occurred in the late 1980s when the city switched from ground to surface water and began pumping water from the Missouri River. Much of that upgrade focused on installing new pipes and pumps, but left much of the original water treatment system untouched. As a result the current core of the water treatment infrastructure is over 55 years old.

Many of the upgrades will be focused on replacing equipment inside the water treatment plant, with improvements also being made to the pump station near Irle School and along the water line.

"We will also be replacing several blocks of water main and upgrading the two reservoirs," stated Kompel adding later that they will also be, "Upgrading tele-metrics that communicate with the intake and pumps systems."

The city will start the process of ordering equipment this week, according to Kompel who stated, "The lead time on equipment will be 20 weeks, due to the state of the economy. So, actual construction should begin around February. Construction then should run for 12 months."