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Ribbon Cut For Lewis & Clark Water Service To Sheldon

April 24, 2024 Steve Schwaller

(Sheldon)– The water has actually been flowing through Sheldon’s pipes for months already, but the ribbon has now officially been cut on Sheldon’s connection to the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System. Several local, regional, state, and national dignitaries congregated in Sheldon on Tuesday to celebrate the connection. One of them was Lewis & Clark Executive Committee Chairman Murray Hulstein from Sioux Center. During his remarks, he reminded those present just how long this day had been anticipated…

“Lewis and Clark was incorporated in January of 1990, so Sheldon’s long wait was one month short of 34 years. That’s a lifetime to some of the younger people here.”

Congressman Randy Feenstra said that the time spans several of his careers as a public servant…

“Whether it be Sioux Center, whether it be Hull, whether it be Sheldon or Sibley, we believed. We believed it would some day happen. When I was City Administrator I thought this is a great project. We’ve got to stay involved, we’ve got to do it. I kept begging my council, this has to happen, and they believed. Then I became a state senator and like what can we do and there was a belief in telling the Legislature, hey you’ve got to fund this project, you’ve got to believe this is going to happen. This is liquid gold. We can take water out of the Missouri River and bring it to Iowa. Then I became a U.S. Congressman and I remember taking all of those trips when I said hey, you’ve got to believe. Now the rubber hits the road here. Now all of a sudden I have to make the decision of how to get the dollars, but I always believed.”

Lewis & Clark water started flowing in Sheldon in December, 2023. The last member system to be connected in Iowa is the City of Sibley. Sheldon’s water comes through Sioux Center and Hull, but Sibley’s will come from the Minnesota line. Lewis & Clark officials say the $8.4 million contract for the Sibley Service Line was awarded in October 2023 to Metro Construction of Tea, SD. The substantial completion deadline is July 2025. This segment is 17 miles of 12″ diameter PVC that starts at the Minnesota Transmission Line between Adrian and Worthington and heads south to Sibley.

(Courtesy Community First Broadcasting station KIWA in Sheldon)

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