Hills finally gets its first municipal water plant

HILLS — Next Sunday, the roughly 800 residents of Hills will celebrate a major milestone in the 109-year-old community's history — its first municipal water plant.

The new plant and water tower, located at 220 S. Third St., will provide clean and safe drinking water to the community while also having the potential to enhance safety and lower residential insurance rates, said Hills city administrator Cathy Fitzmaurice-Hill.

'You're talking about a city with an over 100-year history and this is a municipal water system for the first time, so this is pretty momentous,' she said.

Hills residents are invited to a ceremony at 2 p.m. Sunday at the water plant to celebrate its opening. Residents will receive a commemorative cup to remember the milestone.

The water tower can hold 200,000 gallons and has an estimated daily usage of 71,000 gallons, with a maximum production capacity of 187,200 gallons in a 24-hour period.

The tower, water plant and installation lines to the community cost about $5.1 million.

Discussion of a water plant can be traced back to 2003, when the Environmental Protection Agency discovered the chemical perchlorate — a salt, commonly used in pyrotechnics, that can cause thyroid problems in those who ingest it — in some of Hills' drinking water.

Soon after the discovery, Hills officials began looking for a solution, but the first proposal to install a public water system was voted down by the public in 2007 because of its cost.

However, the next vote in 2012 easily passed, thanks in large part to a state revolving fund loan for $4.63 million to help cover the cost of the project.

The reverse osmosis plant and water tower have since been completed, with work underway to connect the clean water to businesses and homes. They have been drawing water from wells or sandpoints with the municipality maintaining individual reverse osmosis systems for each residence within the perchlorate plume area.

Steve Flake, who works full time for Iowa City's Wastewater Department, has been hired as an affidavit operator for the Hills municipal water plant. Flake will maintain the water system and perform tests and flow readings necessary to operate the plant.

'I know the public is excited about getting a better quality of water,' Flake said. 'It's a good community, and I look forward to taking this step with them.'

While clean water is the initial payoff of such a water system, Fitzmaurice-Hill said there are other benefits, such as the installation of the first fire hydrants in Hills.

Those hydrants not only make the community safer by reducing fire department response time, but having hydrants also has the potential to reduce insurance costs for nearby homes, she added.

Fitzmaurice-Hill said the only challenge now is finding the time to get all the water lines hooked up at homes.

'Most of the line has been tested, so basically right now it's just a matter of how fast a plumber can get people hooked up,' she said.

'I would say the general population, they can't wait for their houses to be next.'