Meeting to discuss the future plans for the Cedar Knox Rural Water project

HARTINGTON — The Cedar Knox Rural Water Project will be holding an informational meeting at the Menominee Parish Hall Jan. 9, at 6 p.m .

The Cedar Knox Rural Water Project got its start in the late 1970s when a group of Cedar and Knox County residents approached the Lewis & Clark Natural Resources District about the possibility of constructing a rural water system to address water quality and quantity issues.

Soon after, the treatment plant in the Devil’s Nest was purchased, the pipeline began to go in, and in October 1981, water began to flow.

CKRWP now serves over 900 rural customers, Crofton, Fordyce, St. Helena, Obert, several SIDs and housing developments, campgrounds, and businesses in northern Cedar and Knox counties.

CKRWP’s current water source is surface water from an intake on Lewis & Clark Lake, one of only five surface water treatment plants in Nebraska, with a production capacity of one million gallons per day.

The current system is over 40 years old and not only costly to operate but will not allow for future growth.

Because of the nature of treating surface water, this water treatment plant also suffers from creating disinfectant by-products, which can require regular flushing of water from distribution piping to maintain acceptable levels of these constituents in the system.

Several years ago, the CKRWP Advisory Board and the LCNRD Board of Directors began a rigorous process of identifying alternative sources and addressing the current aging system. The process included completing preliminary engineering studies and implementing a methodical and phased approach to identify areas in Cedar and Knox counties with groundwater resources that can supply a well field to meet a projected demand of 1.5 MGD.

CKRWP and engineers have been working to secure a sustainable water source and address the disinfection by-products. In early May 2023, the Advisory Committee and Board of Directors decided to refocus on the Aten Area, rather than the Dolphin Area, for well-field development due to landowner participation. Since May, additional water quality and quantity testing has been done at the Aten site, along with developing projections for preliminary treatment process scenarios.

A major component of this project is upgrading parts of the existing distribution system. Nearly 26 miles of pipe are scheduled to be replaced or upsized to accommodate the increasing demand for parts of the system. Also included is replacing a storage tank damaged by ice over its years of service.

Please plan to join staff and project engineers with CKRWP for a meeting to discuss in more detail the wellfield findings, distribution system upgrades, treatment scenarios, and the long-term source to keep CKRWP a strong, viable utility for future generations.

Anyone with questions about the rural water system is urged to contact CKRWP at 402-2546758 for more information.