Effort to restore water in Minden, Iowa

Effort to restore water in Minden, Iowa

Officials expect the city will be treating its own water again by Tuesday, just 10 days after a tornado took out the treatment plant.

Updated: 8:26 AM CDT May 7, 2024

Crews are working to restore water to Minden. Regional Iowa Water is supplying the town for now. But officials hope to get the town producing its own water again by Tuesday.”There’s nothing more important than water. It’s essential for life and for every process of life,” Zeb McFarland with Iowa Rural Water Association said.The tornado destroyed most of Minden’s water treatment plant. So as of Monday, an emergency response trailer is pumping water into the town.Friday, May 3 statement from John Lins, Training Specialist, Iowa Rural Water Association:Last weeks tornados totally destroyed the city of Minden’s water treatment plant however years of preparedness efforts led by Iowa Homeland Security promoting relationships with the private sector and volunteer organizations such as , IOWARN are paying off. Water treatment plants typically take years to build but swift coordination between all these organizations will result in a temporary treatment plant up and running within 5 days for the town of Minden. Iowa Rural Water provides assistance to small communities and made the connection for temporary water treatment equipment to be rented from the Water Surplus company in Illinois. Fortunately Minden’s wells required minimal repairs in order to be used. Treatment is only one aspect of getting water to the tap. There are countless controls, pumps, tanks, piping, valves, motors and structures required to accomplish this task. All of this requires knowledge, skills and abilities possessed by individuals in many different trades. Iowa Rural Water employees led the efforts with the assistance of Des Moines based Baker Group and Electric Pump in addition to several other contractors including local contractor Zimmerman Sales and Service of Neola. On site planning started on Thursday with contractors and equipment arriving on Friday with approximately 30 highly skilled individuals working efficiently and effectively to install new equipment, piping, controls and structures for a temporary treatment plant. When calls were made, all of the contractors literally dropped what they were doing changed their schedules and showed up to do what was needed, a true testament to the community spirit of Iowans. On Friday morning the treatment plant was a bare slab of concrete and by 5:00 pm it was a maze of pipes, motors, filters and equipment. According to Iowa Rural Water Training Specialist John Lins the project is 80% complete with the goal of completion by Sunday. “Our original plan has changed dozens of times today with roadblocks and hurdles arising frequently but always overcome by the knowledge, skills and abilities of the workers.”