The City of Smithville and the DeKalb Utility District entered into a reciprocal water-sharing agreement which was finalized during last week’s meeting of the Mayor and Alderman.
With the opening of its new water treatment plant, the DeKalb Utility District is producing water for county residents as the city facility carries on supplying water to Smithville residents.
Through a combination of valves at any given time the city can supply water to the county and vice-versa.
The measure passed 4-1 during the city meeting, with a standard rate of $2.67 per 1,000 gallons price point for both parties.
“Now that they (DUD) have their own plant up and going, if they need to use us, we can use our master meters to provide them water and if something happens in our distribution system we can turn our meters around and use the DUD water for our customers,” said City Administrator Hunter Hendrixson. “It’s just a mutual aid agreement. It basically says we will support each other one way or the other. The $2.67 per 1,000 rate can change years down the road but both parties have to be in agreement.”
While the city and county might not have always seen eye-to-eye during the development of the new county facility, almost everyone involved saw the benefit of being able to have backups and safeguards in place for both the city and county residents.