Iowa Almanac
Iowa Almanac -- Wednesday, July 10, 2024
A city without water. More from the Iowa Almanac in a moment. Eat up the summer with an Iowa Soybean Association Farmer membership powered by the soybean check-off. Access timely industry info, engage in on-farm research, and join producer programs all designed to support your operations' unique needs. Activate or confirm your membership before August 31st and be entered to win one of many unique prizes, including a solo stove. Visit iasoybeans.com today to learn more. The Iowa Soybean Association, driven to deliver for Iowa's nearly 37,000 soybean farmers. The rains fell and the rivers rose. On the night of July 10th, 1993 came the word that was unthinkable. The Des Moines Water Works Plant would soon be shut down. The water supply to Iowa's largest city would be turned off. About 3.30 this morning, we ended up losing the battle of keeping the raccoon river out of the treatment plant. L.D. McMullen was director of the water works at the time. He said shutting the plant down just before the raccoon river water came over the levee protecting it meant they could get water back to citizens in a matter of weeks instead of months. The raccoon crested at a record 26.75 feet, nearly two feet higher than the levee. Des Moines became the largest city in the U.S. to be without water in modern times. After the waters receded a bit, crews spent a week pumping six feet of water out of the plant. Twelve days after the plant shut down, people could flush their toilets again. And after another week, it was again safe to drink water from a faucet. Some still have souvenirs from that time, including metal cans of drinking water produced by anhyzer bush. The memories are still strong of the then-record flooding that left Des Moines without its water supply, on this date in 1993. And that's Iowa Almanac for July 10th. There's more online at IowaAlmanac.com. Until tomorrow, I'm Jeff Stein.