There are about 27,000 people living in Marshalltown. And over at the waterworks, they take their water very seriously.
“There’s a big expectation to make sure they keep treating water," said Shelli Lovell, the general manager of Marshalltown Waterworks.
The plant was built in the 1970s around two clarifying basins that look like massive concrete funnels. Each is capable of producing six million gallons of clean water. And on an average day, six million works.
But Lovell says during the hottest, driest part of the year, Marshalltown demands more water than one basin is capable of producing.
"If anything breaks," she said, "we’re immediately down six million gallons per day.”
If one side of the aging water system needs a repair, or if a lightning strike causes havoc on the other, residents and businesses could be forced to cut back.
For years now, Marshalltown Water has been ramping up plans to build a third water line: a system that uses reverse osmosis to filter out pollution and impurities.
It’s an expensive option. Unlike some Iowa communities, Marshalltown is not dealing with serious pollution from nitrates or forever chemicals known as PFAS, but Lovell says it’s important to be prepared.
“Marshalltown hasn’t found those chemicals in the water," Lovell said. "But we don’t know what the future holds and membranes position us really well to be able to deal with whatever might come."
Adding another production line isn’t the kind of project a town of 27,000 can swing on its own. It needs help. Marshalltown Waterworks is getting a $36 million loan from the State Revolving Fund.
The fund has put more than $1 billion of state and federal funding towards Iowa communities helping finance big projects like Marshalltown's.
According to Lovell, without the State Revolving Fund, the upgrade wouldn’t be an option, and for a spot in Iowa like Marshalltown options are important. Unsurprisingly, its biggest water users are the town's biggest employers: Alliant Energy, meat processor JBS and a regional water utility.
Kate Sand administers the USDA Rural Development's water loan program. Different than the State Revolving Fund, its money focuses on water projects for towns with less than 10,000 people. Over the last five years, it has put $387 million into Iowa water projects.
The USDA RD, State Revolving Fund and other funds meet quarterly to assess water projects. They each have their own criteria, but one they hold in common is avoiding projects that rely on “speculative growth.” Some applicants argue that if you build it, big employers will come. Sand said that’s a non-starter for most funders.
“We're also looking at what's reasonable growth for that community," Sand said. "Being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, we don’t want to over-invest.”
But for small-towns, this kind of infrastructure is part of how they position for the future. Marshalltown Water’s Lovell was clear that their application for a reverse osmosis line is not about economic development, but it is key to keeping clean water flowing in its town.
"There are things, frankly, we are deferring from a preventative maintenance standpoint until we get this additional six million gallon per day treatment train online," Lovell said. "Because we know we cannot get it done within those few hours.”
Funding agencies told IPR that project financing is tough but so too is finding qualified operators to run water plants.
Jeff Heinrichs is an operator at Marshalltown Water. He’s lived in town for half a century and doesn’t plan to leave. For him, water is a matter of local pride.
“Nobody has water that tastes like Marshalltown. I’m very proud to be a part of the purest, best-tasting water in the world. I mean on a hot day you’d want nothing more than a good cold glass of Marshalltown water," he said.
Heinrichs says he wants to see his community grow and that future is tied — at least in part — to keeping the water flowing.
