KALONA

If Southtown residents have been eyeing their drinking water with skepticism since receiving a letter from the City of Kalona in late April, they can rest easy. The issues that led to uncertainty about the area’s water quality have been resolved, and a full inspection of the water plant on May 8 found only two minor deficiencies, according to City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh.

“One was a well pump cap that was a bit loose on the well in the field, and the other one was an electrical conduit that had a small hairline crack in it,” he said. The first issue was fixed immediately, and a licensed electrician was scheduled to repair the second this week.

“The plant passed with flying colors, and the processes passed the DNR review with two staff members with flying colors, so we feel pretty comfortable with where we’re at right now,” Schlabaugh said.

It was those processes that drew scrutiny earlier this year, when the City was made aware that compliant levels of chlorine residual may have been falsely reported on a number of days in November 2024 and February 2025. An internal investigation followed, and the Iowa DNR was notified, which confirmed the reported values were altered to appear compliant with state disinfectant standards when they were not.

Although no evidence of any health risk to affected water customers in Southtown has been found, the City took immediate action, making changes in staff, implementing stronger oversight and verification, and updating distribution pumps to assist in stabilizing chlorine levels.

“Safe drinking water is very important to us,” Schlabaugh said, and the changes made seem to be bearing fruit. “We feel right now that we’re really producing some of the best water that we have in quite some time. We notice that in the quality of the water and the testing, and we also notice it by frequency of calls.”

Although the Southtown water plant is doing its job for the time being, the City looks to take it offline and instead connect Southtown customers to the northside plant, then drill additional wells and upgrade the northside plant, a $3.5 million project the city council approved earlier this year.

The Southtown plant “produces 75 gallons a minute. We have a storage capacity of 150,000-plus gallons. We need more distribution and a redundant system,” Schlabaugh said.

“The connectivity to our current plant on the north side of the river will mean that we have access to much more on-demand water supply as we see growth, and it will also provide a secondary source, should a well go down,” he continued. “Right now we’re operating on one well, and ideally we would have a backup system, and this would provide that backup system.”

The City plans to put the north-south connection project out to bid late fall/early winter 2025, with completion in early 2026, weather permitting; upgrades to the northside plant would then follow.

“The plant we have right now is 30+ years old, and this would bring it up to a little more current standards,” Schlabaugh said. “It will be a technology improvement as well as be able to provide the best quality we can to the customers.”

Although the water system upgrades will cost Kalona residents a bit more starting this July, the improved system is expected to last decades.

And in terms of staff, the City has acquired another “huge asset”: Ethan Garett, who started May 5 as a Public Works general laborer. Garett is concurrently studying Water Environmental Technology at DMACC, where he will eventually earn Grade I and Grade II certifications, giving Kalona three Grade I and II certified water technicians on staff.

“It’s a neat opportunity for us and also for Ethan, to be able to come in and utilize that classroom knowledge and put it to real world experience,” Schlabaugh said.