After decades of dedicated hard work, the Clarke County Reservoir Commission (CCRC) has made some true progress this year, and the finish line is in sight.
Clarke County citizens have been working since the early 1990s to design and create a new reservoir to act as a sustainable water resource for more than 10,000 residents, a growing manufacturing base, and thousands of livestock that are integral to the south-central Iowa community. At the December meeting of the CCRC, final steps toward breaking ground for the reservoir were outlined, highlighting how 2024 has been an exceptional year of moving forward.
Michael Butterfield of HDR Engineering reported that progress on the technical review draft of the plan-EIS is moving forward and most of the changes from the Agriculture Conservation Experienced Services (ACES) team from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have been completed.
“Coordination meetings with NRCS, Iowa DNR, and Corps of Engineers continue to be fruitful, and we’re getting good feedback in reviews,” said Butterfield. “Everything is moving forward quickly and smoothly, and we’re anticipating the final steps of design and funding to be in full swing by the summer.”
While there are still several steps to be taken before breaking ground, the amount of work that has already been completed to ensure regulatory compliance to qualify for federal construction funding is significant. Several surveys, reviews, and studies have already been completed behind the scenes, making leaps and bounds toward completion.
“Great progress has been made this year, even though it’s hard to see from the outside,” said CCRC Project Coordinator Dave Beck. “While there are still several steps to take, we can see the finish line and it’s closer and closer every day.”
The need for the reservoir hasn’t changed since the project began, and with growth in the city and Clarke County as a whole, it’s become more necessary than ever. Osceola’s current water source is that of West Lake, which has a current safe withdrawal capacity of 800-900,000 gallons per day. Brandon Patterson, superintendent for Osceola Water Works, has previously stated that an average of 1.3 million gallons goes through the Osceola treatment plant on a daily basis. The preliminary design for the new reservoir will have a safe withdrawal capacity of 2 million gallons per day (MGD), and will be used to supplement West Lake to meet the 20-year projected daily withdrawal demand of 2.8 MGD.
If you have questions or would like additional information about the Clarke County Reservoir Commission or the development of the Clarke County Reservoir, please visit: www.ClarkeCountyReservoir.info or contact CCRC Project Coordinator, Dave Beck at [email protected]
{This article was originally published on https://clarkecountyreservoir.info on 1/03/25}
