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Council Bluffs storm water pumping station damaged beyond repair

By Katie Knapp Schubert

Council Bluffs, IA – Council Bluffs officials say one of the city's storm water pumping stations is damaged beyond repair due to settling.

Spokesman Don Gross says the pumping station at Veterans Memorial Bridge Highway and the Missouri River levee will have to be replaced. Settling caused the pipes to break.

Gross says work is underway to keep storm water away from that site. "The Corps right now is constructing a backup levee. Once that's done, we will fill the void piping in the pump station with concrete, and once that's done they will fortify the levee on the back side at that location. And we will employ temporary diesel pumps to pump and draw water from the ditch system where the pump station was pumping before it was damaged."

Gross says the city doesn't have a cost estimate for replacing the storm water pumping station. While the temporary pumps will remove storm water from the site, Gross says they can't handle the same capacity of water as the pumping station.

No other Council Bluffs pump stations are affected by the breakdown at the Veterans Memorial Bridge Highway site.