WAUSA, Neb. (KTIV) -
Folks in Wausa, Neb., often speak glowingly about their fresh water. Now, the town is helping others enjoy those benefits.
"Any time you get good quality water, a reliable system with good, clean water, it's a plus for all the towns around, especially Wausa's," said Peters.
Town members came together to celebrate the completion of the latest step, which took seven years to complete, for the Wau-Col water system Saturday.
Wausa and Coleridge make up the system's name, but it's the other communities that helped get support for the project from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"This is particularly challenging, because you're talking about five communities working together," said Moul.
Maxine Moul says the investment in this water tower will pay dividends in improving the town's infrastructure.
"That encourages people to make investment back into the community. It encourages business people to expand their businesses, expand their employment," said Moul.
"Before, the town of Wausa only had access to about 10,000 gallons of water. Now, it's about ten times that. Plus, it'll make them a lot more prepared for any fires.
"We had some spots that would get as low as 60 pounds of pressure. Now, it's a lot more uniform throughout the system," said Bloomquist.
For a little while, some folks in town resisted the idea of giving away their water to other communities.
"Water's a high quality thing," said Bloomquist. Now, you don't a lot of it, so what you do is you want to keep it. That's what I felt was the big (thing)."
But for Bloomquist, it's a simple principle that made the town catch on to the idea.
"All in all, I feel like the community's accepted the fact that we're helping our neighbors, like we'd like them to help us," said Bloomquist.
