MARTINSBURG, Nebraska (KCAU) – The village of Martinsburg, Nebraska has said goodbye to its 47-year-old water tank and begun the final phase of its water system improvement project.

“It’s a feeling of satisfaction because the board members and I have been through a lot of phases of this,” said Martinsburg Board Chairman Jason Reuter. “It was a lot of work in terms of paperwork, and there are always obstacles with a project like this. We’ve had to deal with a lot of things along the way, so to finally see this completed, the final phase of it, is a big deal for us.”

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For nearly 10 years, the Town of Martinsburg has been working to improve its municipal water system.

“We needed a more modern system and had problems with so-called uranium in one of our wells. So it was clear to us that we needed a water tower in addition to the water,” said Reuter.

But digging new wells and replacing an old water tank with a new one is not possible without extensive support.

“This project involves an incredible amount of money that I don’t think everyone understands,” Reuter said. “The project costs over $1.7 million and is 90 percent funded. For a community of less than 100 people in Martinsburg, that’s really a phenomenal amount of money and we thank a lot of people for that.”

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Now that the old tank is decommissioned, the board can rest easy knowing that it has the resources it needs to continue providing the people of Martinsburg with clean drinking water for years to come.

“It’s important to have clean drinking water, but you also have a new water system that will last a very, very long time,” Reuter said. “The new tower is stainless steel and is basically maintenance free compared to the old steel tower, which actually started leaking and had some other problems because it was steel. The people of Martinsburg pay a water bill and they want results for what they pay.”

The new water tower began serving the city last Wednesday.

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