Fremonters are fortunate when it comes to the water they drink.
Fremont Department of Utilities general manager Derril Marshall said Fremont has one of the most pure water sources in the region, which means purer, less costly water for the city's residents.
“All of our water comes from wells,” Marshall said. “The wells are fueled by an underground aquifer.”
Eight of the city's wells are located about 2 1/2 miles south of the city along the Platte River with five additional wells spread throughout the city, he said. The well field is the primary source of water with the additional wells aiding on peak use days during the summer.
Marshall said that even though the well field is located near the Platte River, the city doesn't draw water directly from the river like Omaha does with the Missouri River.
Instead, the city draws water 75 to 90 feet into the wells, he said. Even though the water table at the well field is less than 10 feet from the surface, water is drawn deeper to allow for the natural filtering process.
In order to get down to the aquifer, water must filter through layers of soil and gravel, “which naturally filters the water,” Marshall said. “This part of the state is very fortunate to have a very large aquifer beneath us.”
That filtering process allows the city's department of utilities to draw water from the wells that need very few additives, he said.
“We add a polyphosphate to keep the manganese and iron in the water. That keeps those minerals from depositing on pipes. We add chlorine as per federal and state regulations, and we add fluoride. There's some naturally occurring fluoride in the water already, but about 10 or so years ago we got a request from a dental group to supplement that with some additional fluoride to help protect teeth.
“That's it. We have very minimal treatment. We have very good quality of water. We're fortunate that we don't have to add more chemicals or do filtration to get undesirable elements out of the water. That's why we have a very low cost.”
Marshall said that even though there are eight wells in the well field and five more scattered around the city, they aren't all operating at the same time. The ones in the city only run from about May to September, but even then only four to six of all the wells are running at a time.
During the winter months, only two or three of the wells may be running at a time, he said.
“We alternate the wells,” he said. “You have to let the wells rest. If you run them constantly, you end up getting some fine gravel into the screens. That cuts down the capacity of the well.”
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