(C) Iowa Capital Dispatch.
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West Des Moines green lights regional water talks
['Jared Strong', 'More From Author', '- January']
Date: 2022-01-26 00:00:00
A proposed regional utility to govern the Des Moines metro area’s water supply got a third nod of approval Wednesday from West Des Moines.
The five trustees of West Des Moines Water Works voted unanimously to start negotiations in earnest with utilities in Des Moines and Urbandale to form Central Iowa Water Works, which could come into existence early next year.
Proponents of the regional utility say it would allow existing utilities to share the risks of water production and the costs of expansion as the metro continues to grow.
Trustees of Des Moines Water Works and the Urbandale Water Utility voted to proceed with the plan in December and earlier this month, respectively. West Des Moines had initially planned a vote in December but delayed it amid fervent outcry from a handful of residents, including two people formerly affiliated with West Des Moines Water Works.
“Once you’re signed to it, you’re bound to it,” Brian Rickert, a former chairperson of its board of trustees, said before the vote Wednesday. “You should never tie your hands behind your back when you go into negotiation.”
Rickert and other opponents of the plan said there might be better options for the city and they worry about relinquishing any authority over its water treatment facility.
Trustees described the resolution they approved as a non-binding signal of support to encourage other water utilities to join, too. West Des Moines and Urbandale are the two largest suburbs of Des Moines by population.
The resolution says the utilities agree to be founding agencies of Central Iowa Water Works if they can forge an agreement that is “acceptable in form and substance.”
“This is merely a first step,” said Scott Brennan, current chairperson of West Des Moines Water Works. “If we can’t come up with a framework that will work for West Des Moines rate payers, I certainly won’t support it.”
Des Moines Water Works is by far the largest supplier of drinking water in the metro, and about half of what it produces goes to other cities. It provides all of Urbandale’s water and about 30% of West Des Moines’ water.
West Des Moines produces the other 70% of its water, but both cities have considered expansions that would likely cost more than $100 million apiece in the coming years.
Graham Gillette, chairperson of the Des Moines trustees, has said a regional authority would ensure equitable water production and shared risks from drought, environmental pollution and costly projects.
“It’s not fair that any one community be burdened with potential risks down the road,” he said last month.
Urbandale’s choice was trickier because an analysis the utility commissioned showed that in the long term it would be cheaper to produce its own drinking water from quarries it owns. That, however, would require a new treatment plant at the likely cost of at least $85 million and a 50% hike in water bills until the debt from the project is paid off.
West Des Moines trustees cited an analysis that showed a 30% cost savings for residents under the regional plan with Des Moines as a main reason for moving forward.
“There’s no one on this board that doesn’t have the best interest of rate payers at heart,” trustee Mary Thomsen said. “If this doesn’t look like the right thing to do, we won’t do it.”
The utilities have estimated it will take at least six months to draft an agreement for the shared ownership and operation of their water production infrastructure. Each utility will retain ownership of its distribution system.
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