Storm Lake Council Weighs $100 Million Plan for New Water Plant

City officials and an advisory committee presented a multi-part plan to the Storm Lake City Council on January 6 proposing a new water treatment facility and associated well and storage upgrades to meet projected needs over the next two decades. The Water Treatment Plant Rates and Design Advisory Ad Hoc Committee, formed in July 2025 and convened four times, outlined site preferences, capacity goals and funding options.

The committee recommended locating the new plant north of Iowa Highway 7 near existing wells and service lines while avoiding environmentally sensitive areas. The current treatment plant, built in 1978, sits west of Storm Lake Elementary School at 6017 85th Ave. It is operating at near capacity each day, producing roughly 5 to 5.6 million gallons per day. The proposed facility would increase capacity to about 8 million gallons per day to accommodate future demand.

Committee members presented preliminary cost estimates as high as $100 million. The advisory group judged grant funding unlikely and noted that issuing General Obligation bonds would put costs on property taxpayers while failing to equitably capture rural users who rely on city water service extensions. As an alternative, the committee endorsed phased utility rate increases beginning in Fiscal Year 2027, with the first adjustments slated for July 1, 2026.

Water Treatment Plant Superintendent Kolby Struchen framed the project as more than a replacement plant, stressing the need to plan simultaneously for wells and storage to secure supply and reliability for the coming decades. Former Mayor Mike Porsch, who spoke for the committee at the meeting, emphasized urgency and set a near-term timetable: land acquisition must occur within six months to preserve the project schedule.

Mayor Meg McKeon acknowledged the financial burden the plan would place on households and urged residents to review the detailed graphics and figures provided to the council. The council packet, which contains site maps, capacity data and financial scenarios, is available at stormlake.org/515/Agendas-and-Minutes. The council will consider the committee’s recommendations and next steps, with land purchase identified as the immediate action.

Policy questions remain central: how to balance intergenerational infrastructure needs against short-term affordability, and how to structure funding so that rural and urban users share costs fairly. Residents and property owners will face concrete budget impacts if the council approves phased rate increases, and the timeline now calls for quick decisions on land and financing to keep the project on track.