In southwest Iowa, Rob Sand hears of water shortages and boil advisories plaguing a town

EXIRA — “We did run out of water at our house … and that’s not the first time we’ve had dry pipes,” Emmy Benton said to State Auditor Rob Sand at the Exira Public Library during a discussion about recent water system shortages and boil advisories.
Sand listened to the concerns as part of a gubernatorial campaign swing through rural Iowa, but problems for Exira, and other customers on Regional Water Rural Water Association’s system, have been ongoing for several years.

Tom Kallman, the association’s general manager, said since the flood of 2019 water tables in the region have been 10-12 inches below average, and the persistent drought conditions have meant no replenishment for groundwater stores.
Customers in the system have been on water conservation advisories during most of this time, and since May 14 have been on advisories to boil all drinking water after shortages created a loss of pressure from the systems. The recent advisory has led to frustration with the system, especially in Exira.
Boil advisories for almost all of the system have been lifted following negative sampling results, and Regional Water is now looking to a nearly completed pipeline connection to Council Bluffs to adequately supply water to the system. Exira officials and residents, however, are skeptical that this will be the end of their water-related problems.
Hindsight on a stressed water supply
Exira officials allege Regional Water oversold the system, which has led to their perennial water issues.
Kellman said “that was not the case” but that drought conditions in eight of the last 10 years have created a situation which no one predicted.
“If they had known (then) what you know now, 20 years later, they would have probably made a different decision,” said Kellman, who has been with the association for nearly four years, referring to previous management.

Regional Water Rural Water Association has 2,600 connections and serves around 750 square miles in Shelby, Pottawattamie, Audubon, Cass and Harrison Counties.
Exira is the newest addition to the system, according to Kellman, and came on in 2005 after an engineering study revealed it would be more cost effective for the town to join the rural water district than to rehabilitate its failing water treatment system.
Meg Andersen, Exira’s city clerk, said the city of 763 people could not fund a solution without the help of funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development office which were only available if the city decided to join Regional Water, to which they signed a 40-year agreement.
“You have no option,” Andersen said. “And now all of a sudden, we’re realizing this is an unsustainable source.”
But the past three years, especially, have left the town frustrated with their perennial water issues.
“We’re not trying to fight — we want to make sure that the people in this town have water,” Andersen said. “It’s a right and a basic human need.”
Connecting to Council Bluffs
Kellman said the system has relied almost entirely on its shallow well field, which has made the most sense, given that the region does not have a surface-water source sufficient enough to tap. The association explored drilling a deep well, but found it would require drilling down between 2,000 and 3,000 feet, with just a 40% chance of striking water.
The other option, which the system decided to pursue, involves an 18-mile pipeline to connect with the system in Council Bluffs and pump water into Regional Water’s system.
Kellman said the pipeline project was approved for federal funding and construction began last October. A temporary pump for the station is projected to be completed on or about June 11th and will bring some respite to the wells and customers in the system. The permanent pump for the system should be completed by October 2025.
“We’ll be able to serve everybody without having to be in any kind of water restrictions,” Kellman said of the expected result of the pipeline project.
Council Bluffs has an abundance of water, as its source is the Missouri River.
Andersen said that while the town of Exira hopes the Council Bluffs project will be successful in alleviating their water problems, she is skeptical.
“The questions we’ve asked in the past three years — we have never been given transparent, clear, concise answers to, and they change,” Andersen said.
Her mistrust of the association has been exacerbated by a lack of clear, or consistent communication between Regional Water and the city.
“We’re told ‘you have to communicate,’ but they don’t even give us a call when we get put into a boil advisory,” Andersen said.
She said the association has also given conflicting answers on how Exira rates would be impacted by the pipeline expansion, which makes it difficult for a city with slim margins to plan its budgets.
“We’ve said we want to work towards a solution, to negotiate these things, but it doesn’t seem like much is coming to the table from the other side,” Andersen said.
Since the town is locked into a 40-year contract with Regional Water, and its own water treatment facility has been sold, Exira is left with few options. The city sent a demand letter to Regional Water and is exploring legal options to leave the contract.
Sand says “Exira matters”
In the meantime, some residents, like Benton, who lives west of the city limits, have decided to reactivate their own wells.
Other residents, like Claire and Blake Asberry, wonder whether they’ll be able to realize their plans of opening a coffee shop and mercantile in town, or if they’ll be able to find tenants for the adjoining apartments when potable water is a question.

Sand, a Democrat from Decorah, listened to the experiences of the Exira residents and said it should be a crisis to which state leaders pay more attention.
“Exira matters,” Sand said. “I think anyone in Iowa that’s facing problems like this should have their problems fixed. Government is supposed to work for everybody.”
Sand took issue with the expensive steps city officials said they would have to complete in order to change the current situation.
“Instead of prioritizing the process, prioritize the people,” Sand said.
Kellman said customers have been under water restrictions for the “better part of three years” and he understands the frustration.
“It gets old after a while, and I get that because I’m on this system,” Kellman said. “It’s not our intention to try and deny people water. On the contrary, we want everybody to have as much water as they need, as much water as they would like.”
The towns impacted by the May 14 boil advisory included Avoca, Persia, Panama, Portsmouth, Westphalia, Kirkman, Tennant, Earling, Exira and Brayton.
While boil advisories for all of the impacted towns aside from Panama and Portsmouth had been lifted as of Tuesday afternoon, the customers are still under “level yellow” water-use restrictions which means they are asked to avoid watering lawns, washing cars, filling pools, cleaning streets or sidewalks, and school physical education activities that require showering.
Kellman said the system is “almost there.”
“I’d love for people to be able to fill their pools in their backyard for their kids,” Kellman said. “At some point we’re going to be able to do that, and it’s a lot closer now than it was two years ago.”
Andersen said the Council Bluffs pipeline would be a “best-case scenario.”
“We haven’t had a best-case scenario in over three years,” Andersen said. “We’re not opposed to it working — we’re looking for a solution that ensures sustainability and longevity of a safe water source for the city.”
