The water shortage this past summer has sparked the need for a new pipeline to Ames.

In June 2006, the city of Ames broke its previous record of 9.2 million gallons of water a day 10 times, as well as its record for water usage in a three-day span.

“We were 18 percent higher than our [previous] highest three-day peak,” said Philip E. Propes, superintendent of the Ames Water Treatment Plant. “In one day, for instance, we can handle the high peaks, but when it’s a sustained flow like that it’s difficult to go three days in a row.”

A city ordinance that goes into effect during water shortages implements several steps.

The first step is voluntary conservation by all Ames residents. In the second week of June, the plant sent out announcements to the city of Ames to conserve water.

Ames wasn’t the only city in Iowa having water problems; most of central Iowa also dealt with water challenges.

“We didn’t enact the ordinance in June, but we did get on the radio and other news media to help us,” Propes said. “The major part of the water usage is lawn watering; we asked the citizens to cut back on their lawn watering.”

The message was effective, with citizens cutting back markedly on their water usage.

“It actually worked; we did see a difference after we sent out a request to help us,” Propes said.

If the high temperatures and lack of rain had continued, city officials might have enforced the ordinance. The proposed pipeline would postpone such measures in the event of another shortage.

“We’ve been talking about building another parallel pipeline for a couple of years,” Propes said. “So it’s not really anything brand new, and not because of what happened in June this summer, however because of what did happen it just made us more aware that we do need this pipeline.”

The digging, laying and engineering of the pipeline could take a couple of years. Right now there is no estimated starting time for the pipeline.

“We are looking right now at increasing the rates for water,” Propes said. “The pipeline needs to be increased in size and also it need to duplicated or looped. If there’s a break in the pipe we can reroute the pipe to the other pipe.”

The pipeline would be mainly financed by water sales. Additional funding for the pipe could come from a government obligation bond.

“What we’ve presented to council is, in the beginning of ’07-08, purchase a G.O. bond for the project,” said Lyle Hammes, environmental engineer for the Water and Pollution Control Department in Ames.

A G.O. bond is one of the ways for a city to fund a large project that wouldn’t normally return a profit, Hammes said.

There has yet to be any work done on the pipeline, with the plan awaiting approval. The city of Ames has funds for a three-year project and is approaching consultants this spring for a preliminary design.

“So right now we’re not sure when it’s gonna happen,” Propes said.