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Fort Dodge, area residents can be thankful for good water service

Officials have made tough decisions to keep essential system functioning

When the folks in Jackson, Mississippi, turn the handles on their water faucets, water may or may not come out. And the city was under a boil advisory for about seven weeks, which meant if people got any water from their faucets they had to boil it before drinking it or cooking with it to get rid of any nasty bacteria. And this is happening in a modern American city.

We in Fort Dodge and surrounding communities are fortunate and indeed downright spoiled. Water comes out of our faucets. We occasionally have boil advisories, especially in the smaller communities, when a water line breaks, but those breaks get fixed in a reasonable amount of time. Those boil advisories are then rescinded after the appropriate tests reveal that there are no bacteria lurking in the water.

The fact that we have reliable water service, not to mention working sanitary and storm sewers, is a tribute to elected officials and professional city staffers who actually think about how to provide good infrastructure to their communities and then make it a priority. One is left to wonder what the officials in Jackson, Mississippi, were thinking and doing.

Here in Fort Dodge, we gripe about utility rates and especially rate increases. In fact, we’re fairly sure there will be another water rate increase coming next year. We also complain about navigating lane closures and orange cones on the streets. But those obstacles are proof that things are getting done. Water is flowing. Sewers are not backing up. Manholes no longer have to be pumped out during every significant rainfall.

Over the years, elected and appointed officials in Fort Dodge have had to make some tough decisions on infrastructure issues. Raising utility rates was not, and never will be, popular. But elected officials have bravely made unpopular votes on such increases, and the end result is that the basic things that make Fort Dodge and surrounding towns modern American communities actually work.

We bet the folks in Jackson wish they had some of our infrastructure.

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