Iowa American, MercyOne, EMA partner on new well project

A new multi-million-dollar well project in Davenport is moving forward that will benefit MercyOne Genesis, Iowa American Water and some of its other customers in the Iowa Quad Cities. Iowa American Water announced in a news release Friday, April 11, that it is partnering with MercyOne Genesis and the Scott County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) […]

A new multi-million-dollar well project in Davenport is moving forward that will benefit MercyOne Genesis, Iowa American Water and some of its other customers in the Iowa Quad Cities. Iowa American Water announced in a news release Friday, April 11, that it is partnering with MercyOne Genesis and the Scott County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) on drilling the new $5.6 million water source.  Located on the MercyOne Genesis East Campus, 1227 E. Rusholme St., the project broke ground in December and the initial phase of work is scheduled to be completed in June, the utility said.  According to Iowa American, the well will provide a water source to help ensure an uninterrupted water supply to the hospital’s East Campus. It also will improve efficiency in the water service to the area by using less energy than it currently takes to pump water from the water treatment facility on the Mississippi River.  “MercyOne Genesis has wanted a secondary water source at our East Campus for years because the loss of water is the worst utility a health system can lose,” Kevin Rossmiller, MercyOne Genesis’ executive director of construction and design, said in the release.  “The new water well will not only support Genesis but also the surrounding neighborhood,” Mr. Rossmiller said. The well will serve as a backup to the health system in the event of an outage, Iowa American Water President Brad Nielsen said in the release. “Our partnership with MercyOne Genesis … provides another level of protection for the health, safety, and peace of mind of the health system.” In addition, he said the new water source “builds additional resiliency into our distribution system that benefits our other customers as well.”

Scope of work

The project involves drilling a 1-million-gallon per day ground well. Providing water treatment there is part of a future phase that will help serve all customers in the Quad Cities district. Lisa Reisen, Iowa American’s senior manager of external communications, told the QCBJ that the water company is working with Cahoy Well & Pump, a Sumner, Iowa-based contractor, on the new well installation portion of the project.  Crews initially installed a temporary sound wall around the project site, “to help reduce the noise from the drilling work for nearby residents,” she said in an email. With the drilling now complete, Ms. Reisen said some work still remains on the well portion of the project and this phase should be complete by late June. “The next step will be to do water sampling and analyzing to determine what the best treatment process will be based on the water drawn from the well,” she added.  According to Ms. Reisen, once the company determines the treatment necessary to meet all federal and state water quality regulations, Iowa American will hire an engineering firm to design that portion of the project.  Then another contractor will be hired to complete the work. She estimated that the entire project could take one or two years to complete depending on permitting and construction timelines.  

Infrastructure investments

Headquartered in north Davenport, Iowa American Water said the investment is another example of continuous improvements and proactive investments it is making to help meet the demands of today’s customers and plan for the future.  In fact, the utility said, these types of investments are needed across the nation to maintain critical infrastructure.  According to the American Water Works Association, the industry’s leading trade association, at least $1 trillion is needed over the next 25 years to maintain and replace the nation’s outdated water and wastewater systems.  Iowa American Water, a subsidiary of American Water, has been addressing this challenge by investing about $40 million annually in water treatment and distribution system improvements in the nine communities it serves. The largest regulated water utility in the state, the company provides water services to about 227,000 people.