Wednesday morning, the Adel community gathered at the Public Works Department to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the new water treatment plant.

The project has been in the works for several years, and the contractor John T. Jones Construction Company of Fargo, North Dakota has begun preliminary work at the site. The facility is being built between the Public Works building and the Raccoon River, which Public Works Director Kip Overton said will cut back on pipes to and from the water supply. At the groundbreaking ceremony, there were speeches from Adel Mayor Jim Peters, Grant Menke the State Director with United States Department of Agriculture – Rural Development, and Gary Brons with City Engineers McClure Engineering. Each talked about the importance of the project for the City and the region.

Overton said it was exciting to see so many people show up to celebrate the new facility, and gave a tentative timeline for completion. “We’ve been waiting a long time for this day, with our water plant getting to the end of its useful life of 45-odd years. It’s going to be quite an asset to the City, having a new water treatment facility. We’re looking at another 12-14 months, something like that, all weather dependant of course. Hopefully they can get the walls and roof on before wintertime, and work inside all winter and be ready to go by hopefully late next fall (or) early winter.”

The project cost is $11.65 million, with $2.3 million paid through grant funds from the USDA.