A better summer for Lincoln's water supply
May 5, 2011
After several years of widespread water restrictions due to drought, 2011 is looking to be the second consecutive year without water restrictions for the city of Lincoln, Nebraska. The city's
water supply is in good shape, and its transmission capacity has been expanded, so the mayor and the chief engineer at the
Lincoln Water System have agreed that water restrictions aren't likely to be needed.
Like many communities, though, Lincoln has some older infrastructure that the water utility would like to replace, and that will require the cooperation of water users, who may need to pay a little more in order to ensure sufficient fire protection and a healthy supply of clean, safe drinking water. We don't have to tell stories in most of America today about
city centers burning up because water can't be found, or about
cholera epidemics because of contaminated water -- because our
municipal drinking-water infrastructures are mature and supply lots of safe water. But it's important to reinvest carefully in keeping that infrastructure up to date so that the tragedies of the past remain in the past.
last revised May 2011