Dry Weather Leads to Wintertime Grass Fires in Nebraska
January 30, 2006
Nebraska's ongoing drought, coupled with high winds over the last few days, have led to some grass fires that fortunately haven't reached the magnitude of this month's fires in Oklahoma and Texas. We have a range of portable pumps for firefighting available for quick shipment anywhere in the USA.

Des Moines Water Works to Absorb Southeast Polk Rural Water District
January 27, 2006
The district has $12 million in debt, and it already buys its water from Des Moines. We serve rural water districts with a variety of products, including water pressure booster stations.

"Save Ashland" Website Launched to Oppose Omaha-Lincoln Lake Proposal
January 26, 2006
A website has been launched to oppose a plan for a giant man-made lake that would stretch between Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. Residents are concerned that the proposal would completely wipe out the town of Ashland. The proposal as it stands would disrupt Omaha's new water-treatment plant, where our geomembranes are being installed for waterproofing.

Unhealthy Water Makes NY Mobile Home Park Unlivable
January 26, 2006
A faulty chlorination system gave residents of a New York mobile-home park nosebleeds and eye irritation when chlorine levels in the water reached 50 times the legal limit. Tablet chlorination is a safe and simple method of ensuring that water is always properly disinfected without endangering the people who use and drink it. Chlorine tablets are designed to dissolve in a tablet feeder at a specified rate -- just the amount needed for disinfection.

Large Parts of Missouri River Basin Still Way Below Normal
January 24, 2006
Reservoir levels are now above last year's, but still well below the 40-year average along much of the river. In the Platte River Basin, which feeds into the Missouri, groundwater levels are falling throughout Nebraska, as the number of wells and acres of irrigated cropland persistently increase. Our pumps and municipal water treatment systems help Nebraska make the most of its increasingly-scarce water supply.

$1 Billion Price Tag for Iowa Water Improvements
January 24, 2006
Iowa is behind on its compliance with the Clean Water Act, and some vigorous supporters of tougher standards are now threatening to sue the state. Some wastewater facility operators think they're being unfairly targeted by the new rules, but the bottom line is that the proposed rules are going to toughen the jobs for many municipal wastewater plants. Our core business has been serving the municipal wastewater market in Iowa and Nebraska for more than 20 years, and we will be here to help Iowa's municipal operators, no matter what rules finally take hold.

Proposed Lake in Nebraska Might Ruin Omaha Water Plant
January 23, 2006
A state senator is proposing a study on a huge lake to occupy most of the space between Lincoln and Omaha. Omaha's Metropolitan Utilities District says that such a plan would contaminate the aquifer they're going to use for the new Platte West water treatment plant, and would ruin the well field used for most of Lincoln's water system, too. The new Platte West plant includes a large number of our Patterson horizontal split-case pumps.

Biodiesel Expansion Briefly Slowed in Minnesota
January 20, 2006
Minnesota is temporarily suspending a requirement that all diesel sold there contain biodiesel, while they figure out what caused some trucks to encounter fuel-filter plugging after using it. Minnesota is the first state in the nation to include a statewide biodiesel-blending mandate, but others will probably follow. See our biodiesel products section.

Past updates:

last revised 11.21.2005