Iowa Town Starts Sewage Treatment Construction on Earth Day

Earth Day, April 22, 2004, will have very special meaning for the 110 people that live in Webster, Iowa: they start construction on their city’s first sanitary sewer system.  At 1 pm on Earth Day, the people of Webster and their guests will break ground on a $750,000 sanitary sewer system in a ceremony in the Webster City Park at the corner of Washington and Main Streets.  Featured speakers will include Bryan Lee, Mayor of Webster, Dr. Dan Brown, state director for USDA Rural Development in Iowa, and Ernie Greiner, Regional Utility Service System board member and Keokuk County Supervisor. 

“This Earth Day is going to be a great day for the environment and the people of Webster,” said Julie Falcon, Interim Coordinator for Pathfinders Resource Conservation and Development of Fairfield.  “This treatment facility will mean the people of Webster can get rid of their home septic systems, ensure the city is in compliance with state and federal waste water regulations, and improve the environment for the people of northern Keokuk County and for those downstream.”

Cooperation from many agencies, both federal and state, helped make the sewage treatment system possible.  Funding for the $750,000 project is coming from an $110,000 Iowa Department of Economic Development block grant, with the rest from USDA-Rural Development in the form of a $474,000 grant and a $166,000 loan.  Pathfinders RC&D, which is assisted by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, is project coordinator and administrator.  The multi-county Regional Utility Service System (RUSS) will own the new sanitary sewer system.

For more information, please contact Henry (Willie) Van Weelden, RUSS Chairperson, at 641-472-6177.

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