History of ILRW

A steering committee was formed in 1976 to hold public informational meetings on the merits of having a rural water system in the area. With assistance from the Farmers Home Administration and the County Extension Services, the committee solicited preliminary water use information. As a result of the interest expressed by the people, the steering committee became formally incorporated as the Clay County Rural Water System and a Board of Directors was elected.

After the water study was prepared and approved in 1977, Farmers Home Administration was approached with a request for funding the construction of the organization. A final signup campaign began in late 1977. Three months later, the loan was approved. Following the signup campaign and the final plans and specifications approval by the Board of Directors and various governmental agencies, a project bid opening took place in December 1979. Construction commenced in April 1980 with the first phase in operation eleven months later. In September 1981, Clay County Rural Water District was formed under Chapter 357A in the Iowa Code. The District launched with nearly 500 miles of pipeline and 925 customers.

Since then, the Board of Directors, with support of the membership, changed the District’s name to Iowa Lakes Regional Water serving a larger footprint. As the District has been in operation for over 40 years, the system provides water service to over 4,500 customers in eight counties and 16 communities in northwest Iowa, as well as Jackson County, Minnesota with over 2,000 miles of pipeline.

Iowa Lakes Regional Water owns two treatment plants. The original treatment plant in Clay County was built in 1980 and put into service as an iron removal plant in 1981. The plant was reconditioned and upgraded to a lime softening facility. In 2020, Iowa Lakes Regional Water, along with hired contractors began construction on the second water plant in Palo Alto County, Iowa. The new treatment plant is scheduled for phase 1 completion and in operation by late 2021 as a reverse osmosis water treatment plant. Iowa Lakes Regional Water also purchases water from two communities. Iowa Lakes Regional Water has over a dozen booster pump stations, which assist in filling water towers located throughout the service area. Approximately 40 percent of the system’s usage demands are from livestock and confinement customers. The system currently serves a population of approximately 11,600 people with the ability to serve an additional 16,750 people with the new water treatment plant.  

Iowa Lakes Regional Water strives for higher standards within its own workforce and innovative wastewater techniques. Through the years, with the support of the United States Department of Agriculture Rural Development, a comprehensive owner construction model has evolved. This is a cost-effective and reliable method for Iowa Lakes Regional Water to deliver the program while allowing federal funds to go further. Iowa Lakes Regional Water has built and operates a dozen innovative community wastewater systems in counties within Iowa and Minnesota and contract operates other community systems. Iowa Lakes Regional Water cumulatively provides services to more than 870 wastewater customers.