6/24/24 Status Update

There are rumors that ORWS may have to shut down the water plant by Sutherland.

Early this morning around 3:00am ORWS lost the ability to run all five of its wells in the Little Sioux Aquifer. All tanks and towers were full when this occurred, giving us about a day and a half of water.  Motions were put into place to haul water from our May City water source as well as surrounding communities to supplement the needs of the system, in the event that ORWS was unable to get the wells back online.

By 10:00am we were able to restore well #7 and the water plant was up and running again, producing water at a rate of 700 gallons per minute. At this point we put water haulers on standby.

At around 12:00pm we were able to secure wells #5 & #6 and able to produce water as normal keeping the tanks and towers full.

Some customers are still without water service due to river washouts. Crews are actively working to restore water service to these areas located in Omega, Floyd, Union and Caledonia Townships in O’Brien County as well as Westport & Okoboji Townships in Dickinson County.

Osceola Rural Water System would like to thank everyone for their continued patience and understanding during this difficult time. Lastly, we will be filling sandbags tomorrow morning starting @ 9am along highway 10 at the bottom of the hill to protect the well buildings. Volunteers would be greatly appreciated!