Public gets first look at McCook's new water treatment plant

As temperatures soared into the triple digits Wednesday, the only thing on the mind of state and city officials was water -- specifically the new water treatment plant

Member of the public along with the plant's engineers and city staff celebrated the ribbon cutting ceremony with Gov. Dave Heineman inside the cool confines of McCook's high-tech water treatment plant.

"I wish we could take all this water and give it to the farmers," Heineman joked in his opening remarks. He congratulated McCook on successfully completing the plant, the first of its kind to treat three contaminates at once, commending city officials on the way they handled the challenges they faced.

The treatment plant was a good example of how a community can work together to ensure clean drinking water, he said.

"A community simply cannot thrive or grow without clean water," he stressed, adding that the plant was significant for growth and was important for communities in this area to expand like Lincoln or Omaha.

"I want to continue to see Southwest Nebraska grow and McCook can lead the way," he said.

The hot weather made its way into Mayor Dennis Berry's speech as he recapped the stormy history surrounding the treatment plant.

"This warm weather mirrors the fact that for nearly 20 years the hot topic in McCook has been our water woes," he began.

Intense discussions on water "spilled" over into the community and "the issue became clouded by scalding personal attacks," he said, "while state and federal agencies were left quietly simmering."

Finally, "the steaming pot boiled over and scalded everyone," he said, alluding to the state and federal fines levied against the city.

Winds of change blew into town two years ago, and a cool front followed, he continued. Instead of scorching hot rhetoric among townspeople and state and federal officials, there was peace on the plains.

A newly formed City Council became united in its resolve for coming up with a solution, he said, with the ribbon cutting symbolizing "what can be done when scorching personal attacks cease and a community looks upon challenges as a cup half full instead of half empty.

"And now all we have to do is pay for it," he quipped.

Greg Wolford of W Design, who engineered the plant along with JHC Joint Venture, said the plant worked similar to a water softener and gave a short rundown on how the plant operates. What was keeping the plant cool inside at 67 degrees was 2,800 gallons of 55-degree water flowing through the pipes, he explained.

Jesse Dutcher, Utilities Director and Aaron Peterson, Field Supervisor, gave community residents a tour of the inner workings of the plant, explaining how each of the computerized instruments control and monitor the operations, such as as how hard the water is coming in, the current level of nitrates and what the water levels are in the west and east water towers.

They also fielded questions that ranged from how much salt was used -- $4,000 worth per week, the biggest expense -- what would happen if there was a power failure -- a generator behind the plant is ready to kick in in 3 seconds, and the plant also can be manually operated -- and why the chlorine is so strong in the water.

Water is rushing through the plant so fast this time of year that it doesn't have any time to sit in the 4-million gallon reservoir, they said, which normally would lessen the chlorine taste. During the winter the chlorine should not seem as apparent.

One resident who is retired picked up a free pen and cookie after the tour and made his own observations.

"I still think the old water tasted better," he said. But "at least I got a free pen out of the deal."