The Pierre City Commission approves an $80,000 proposal for the city’s drinking water system.
At its latest meeting, the commission agreed to abandon and cap three unused wells near the waterfront, which will happen this year. City staff will remove those well houses sometime next year.
“Once abandoned, the wells no longer require maintenance,” said Robert Townley, water superintendent. “Since they’re no longer in use, it just makes sense to be done with them and no longer use our resources to maintain them.”
The commission also approved plans to fix one of the city’s six drinking water reservoirs. Contractors will make those repairs by the end of this year. The city said they don’t anticipate any impact to the customer.
In December 2022, the City of Pierre began distributing treated Missouri River surface water from its newly established water treatment facility. Previously, the city's drinking water was supplied by groundwater produced from a series of local wells.
City officials say the water system serves 13,640 customers who use an average of 2.6 million gallons of water every day.