I had the opportunity to tour the new DeKalb County Utility District’s new water plant this past week, and was very impressed by the operation.During this month’s meeting of the Smithville Mayor and Alderman, an agreement was reached and passed between the city and county to share resources if necessary, giving both a viable backup system in case of an outage or emergency.Having first-rate water facilities is definitely a boon for the area, as years ago in Milwaukee I was an inadvertent victim of a biological agent when cryptosporidium parasites found their way into the city’s water supply.I usually didn’t drink the city water, as I was living in Waukesha at the time, but there was a trade show for home security systems downtown and I went. Feeling like a drink of water, I came across a water fountain and had a few sips. Apparently they were a few sips too many as I started feeling like I had the flu.