City of Hastings Receives Water Stewardship grant

The Hastings Utilities Water Department plans to convert a decommissioned drinking water well into an Aquifer Storage and Restoration (ASR) feed water well utilizing grant funding from Google LLC.

Brandan Lubken, Director of Underground Operations, discussed during the May 14 Hastings Utility Board meeting a $1.26 million Water Stewardship grant Hastings Utilities will receive from Google.

Hastings was notified on April 2 that the department will receive $1,261,500 to cover all capital costs for the project as well as 10 years of estimated operation and maintenance costs.

Google provides the grants with the intent to replenish more freshwater than it consumes by 2030 and help improve water quality and ecosystem health.

Grant categories include infrastructure, agriculture and nature-based solutions.

In the case of Hastings, the grant was awarded to make a high-nitrate water source drinkable again.

Well 17 – on the north side of Lake Hastings – has long tested too high in nitrates, and unusable in the Hastings drinking water system.

The Google grant will allow for the installation of a dual-pump system, and piping to ASR that was budgeted for $900,000.

The water department budgeted to restore Well 17 as an ASR feed water well but now can use those funds for other projects thanks to the grant.

The grant requirements include modest annual water quality reporting to Google such as nitrate levels before and after treatment, and water volume treated to show that the project is operating as planned.