U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, D-17, visited Monmouth Thursday morning to learn more about the city’s water infrastructure.
The Congressman’s visit started at Monmouth’s north water treatment plant, which utilizes ion exchange technology to treat raw water from 2,500-foot deep wells and comply with drinking water standards.
That plant also supplies about 1.5 million gallons of water per day to the Smithfield Foods pork-processing plant in town.
Then Sorensen and city and community leaders took a bus tour of Monmouth's south side, where a preponderance of households still have lead service lines.
In all, Monmouth has an estimated 2,000 lines to be replaced. That’s expected to cost up to $10 million.
Sorensen put around $960,000 for Monmouth in this year’s federal appropriations bill for lead service line replacement.
“These funds that you asked for, for us, will certainly help us move this project along,” said Mayor Rod Davies.
The city plans to put those funds toward replacing lines for low-income households on the south side that are already struggling to make ends meet.
City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher told Sorensen the city produces and distributes high-quality water – and the lead is not coming from the water system.
“It’s from the water main in the street to the house. That’s where the lead pipes are and that’s where the lead comes from,” Steinbrecher said.
Sorensen said his job is to find the waste in Congress but also find ways to bring hard-earned federal tax dollars back into local communities.
“We need to make sure that as people turn on the water, it’s going to be reliable and it’s going to be safe. Here we see the largest employer is also the largest user of water,” he said. “We have to make sure we can maintain this system so they can continue to grow and produce jobs, because those jobs are going to be the families that live in Monmouth for years to come.”
The city of Monmouth has a number of other projects in the works to replace aging infrastructure such as water mains, and has a $3 million state grant to revitalize its downtown square.
While in Monmouth, Sorensen – a meteorologist -- said there’s one good thing about the current heat wave.
“Coming down here, I’m looking, and the beans and the corn are in good shape already,” he said. “The heat, it's bad for us, but I don’t think it’s going to bother our yields too much.”
