Water Supply Projects

Due to turn-of-the-century lead and zinc mining, shallow aquifers in rural Jasper County were contaminated. For several years the EPA provided bottled drinking water to rural residents living east of Joplin, in the Prosperity area. The need was sufficient to create a new rural water district, Jasper County PWSD #3.

Tri-State Engineering completed the design and plans for the system, including 37 miles of water distribution lines, a 150,000 gallon elevated storage tank, and connection to the water supply of both the City of Carterville and the City of Duenweg. The district began construction with nearly 400 customers, with 200 more customers joining the district before construction was complete. A potential customer base above 1200 is a reasonable goal. The district system was designed using the CYBERNET computer modeling software under extended period conditions, simulating actual expected flows and pressures within the network.

After a three-year period of initial system operation, PWSD # 3 in 2005 hired TSE to update the initial Cybernet water model using H2O Net computer modeling software. TSE converted the original Cybernet data and updated the model with current users and system mains. Several proposed extensions have been modeled to allow for growth towards Oronogo and Carthage. TSE continues to provide “on-call” engineering services for the JCPWSD #3.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sampled private residential water wells in areas of northern Newton County. Many wells were found to be contaminated with heavy metals, cadmium and lead above safe levels for drinking. The EPA provided funding for an extension of the City of Diamond’s public water system to supply potable water to areas of the City that had shallow ground water contamination from previous lead and zinc actives. The project involved: Engineering report, Recommended system alignments and tower site to the City, EPA Grant application, DNR Construction permit, Construction plan development of a 250,000-gallon tower, deep well and pump house, and approximately eight miles of water main, installed in private easements.