Pipeline Nearly Complete for Nebraska Town's New Water Supply

ASHLAND, Neb. (AP) — Lincoln officials are conducting final inspections on a pipeline that will serve as a conduit for the city’s new water supply.

The steel pipeline is as long as about five football fields, measuring 1,500 feet (457-meters). The pipe is waiting on the east side of the Platte River to be pulled beneath the river and back up to dry land, where it will connect Lincoln’s newest well on the east side of the river with its water treatment plant, the Lincoln Journal Star reported .

A 2012 drought tested the city’s water system and revealed the need for a more reliable water supply, said Steve Owen, Lincoln’s superintendent of water production.

“That was a time that we said, ‘OK, now is the time to get more serious about increasing our supply,'” Owen said.

Lincoln officials finished the final well on the 143-acre (58-hectare) island north of Interstate 80 in 2014. At the time, the city had a driller sink a well on the river’s east side.

The well sat unused for a couple of years, but Lincoln is ready for it to start pumping. The pipeline will help water flow into the pipes already on the island.

Inspectors need to determine that the pipe is watertight before contractors can begin moving the pipe late this week.

The process of getting the well working, supplying the water system and stabilizing stretches of riverbank is estimated to cost $12.7 million.

About 10 million gallons of water could be flowing beneath the river this summer.