MISSOURI VALLEY, Iowa (KMTV) — Missouri Valley neighbors contacted KMTV after concerns about the town's water quality were raised at a recent city council meeting.
In a video circulating of that council meeting, Missouri Valley resident Lori white asks a representative of PeopleService, the company that operates Missouri Valley's water system, if an employee was fired over what neighbors believe was falsified water report of some kind.
"But you fired them, right?" asked White.
"That's right," he responds.
Missouri Valley City Administrator Terri Colglazier explains: "There was an internal document where there may have been some falsification."
PeopleService Executive Steve Robinette said he would not discuss personnel issues when KMTV emailed him, but said there "were no falsified reports submitted to the state and there was no danger to public health."
Colglazier told KMTV that water quality is a hot topic in Iowa and in her community right now.
"I think their (residents') main concerns were the water quality and that was not affected at all," she said.
The personnel issue came on the heels of a separate problem. In April, the city updated its billing software and experienced significant glitches. Colglazier said 80 accounts vanished in the process and had to be recreated.
"So we're having many issues getting meter reading to be able to issue bills," Colglazier said.
Beyond the billing problems, the city is also grappling with aging water infrastructure and limited funding to address it.
"I mean that's a well-known issue. We know that the infrastructure is old," said White. "We know that we have limited resources."
The city recently received a $467,000 grant for a $4.3 million project that underway. Colglazier says the city will replace water mains gradually as it continues to replace the streets that lie over those mains. That's not always easy, she says.
"So, funding is definitely a big issue. I know for Missouri Valley our water mains on Main Street are hundred plus years old. And there's nothing we can do until the hwy 30 bypass happens. We can't replace those," Colglazier said, explaining that the city's main street is also U.S. Highway 30.
Missouri Valley is one of many Iowa communities facing similar challenges with water systems — a basic necessity that resident Lori White summed up: "You just have to have water."
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