(Avoca, Iowa) – Customers of the Regional Water Rural Water Association (RWRWA) based in Avoca, remain under a “Condition Yellow” water conservation mode, but officials warn the supply of water in their towers was lower as of Friday morning, then they had been all week. They ask their customers to “please continue to monitor water use,” as they head into the warm weekend.

RWRWA says “If the levels in the water towers get too low, Regional Water will shift to a Red Conservation Notice so as to avoid going back into a boil advisory. When we can keep water in the towers and keep the pressure in the system about 20 PSI, we do not have to initiate boil advisory measures.”

The company said also, they “Are pumping around the clock at 740 gpm (gallons per minute) from the plant with all wells on,” including their backup wells. “This is just over 1 million gallons per day, which is [our] average usage for this time of year.” For comparison, Regional Water was able to pump 850 gpm from the wellfield last year, which gave them the same 1 million gallons in just 19 hours, 36 minutes.

With regard to the water supply, RWRWA says “The creek along Highway 6 needs to be bored again due to unanticipated soil conditions. Once complete, Regional Water will continue moving forward with conducting required pressure testing and collecting samples to ensure there is no bacteria. Once the pressure testing passes and bacteria sampling results come back negative, the next step is to turn the temporary pump station on. Turning the pump station on will include the chemical feed into the system. This allows the appropriate chlorine levels into the system to ensure the water is safe to drink. All crews are working as diligently as possible to get the temporary booster station online.”

And, the water company says “In an effort to provide additional methods to communicate with customers and communities served by Regional Water, [we] have partnered with the Pottawattamie County GIS Department and other stakeholders to develop and provide an online dashboard that will provide up-to-date tower status and service area information.

The community can access the dashboard on the RWRWA website and various websites of the county and municipal government entities within the Regional Water service areas. Go to https://rwrwa.org/operations-status-dashboard-2