Brookings Municipal Utilities

Welcome to BMU's Water Department page

The Brookings Municipal Utilities Water Department is working to give you the best water quality. Our distribution system is one of the best available. Our plants are modern. Our crews are trained.

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Water Treatment Plants

The City of Brookings receives its water supply from underground aquifers. An aquifer located two miles east of Brookings supplies water to our East Plant. The aquifer covers an area of approximately 20 square miles and has a drainage area of approximately one hundred square miles. This drainage area provides an average recharge of water into the aquifer of nine billion gallons annually.

The East Treatment Plant, which has four wells, can provide up to four million gallons of treated water to Brookings each day. More wells can be added, if needed.

Brookings Municipal Utilities maintains a second water treatment plant one mile north of the City. Its water source is also from an underground aquifer.

Six wells operate at the North Plant and can provide up to 3.5 million gallons of treated water to Brookings each day. The East and North Plants have a combined daily capacity of 7.5 million gallons of treated water.

A 3 million-gallon above ground storage tank is located adjacent to the East Water Plant and an underground 1.5 million-gallon tank is adjacent to the North Plant. This makes for a total storage at the plants of 4.5 million gallons. Four water towers are located in the city with a combined storage of 1.65 million gallons.

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Water Treatment Process

The process of treating water is similar at both plants. The first step is aeration to remove hydrogen sulfide and to aid in the removal of iron and manganese.

Following aeration, the water enters a "solid contact basin". Lime and alum are added to the water to form "floc particles". These particles settle to the bottom of the basin carrying the minerals to be removed. A "lime sludge" forms at the bottom of the basin and is automatically pumped to drying beds.

The clarified water is removed from the surface of the basin through launder troughs and flows to gravity filters. The gravity filters remove any remaining particles to provide final clarification for the water before delivery to the distribution system. After the water passes through the filters it drops into a clearwell where chlorine is applied for disinfecting and fluoride is added for tooth decay prevention.

The water is then stored in reservoirs to be used as needed. When water is pumped to town, an additional chemical is added to help reduce the amount of lead and copper that is leached from the household plumbing. Brookings Municipal Utilities is proud to say that our water meets and exceeds all state and federal regulations for drinking water.

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Locates

If you are planning to do any digging on your property, please check with the Utility Companies in your community. The Water Department will locate water lines at no charge. The procedure will take anywhere from ten to thirty minutes. Please call our Service Department at 697-8418 to set up an appointment.

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Water Concerns

If you are having any problems with the quality of water at your home or business, such as rusty water or low water pressure, please call 697-8418 and let us know. We will be happy to come to your home, or let you know what needs to be done. Sometimes it is something that can be fixed with information supplied by the Service Department over the phone.

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Residential Rates
(Effective with Jan. 1, 2008 Billing)

Meter Size	Minimum Rate
5/8", 3/4" or 1"	$9.25
1 1/4" or 1 1/2"	$28.00
2"	$43.00

Usage Charge:

$1.421 per 100 cu. ft.

The following additional conditions shall be applicable to all water provided for the billing periods of July, August and September:

Each customer will be assigned a Summer Peak Usage Adjustment Level (SPUAL). The SPUAL will be set at an amount equal to 300% of the greater of the Winter Residential City Monthly Average (WRCMA) or the average of the customer's most recent monthly usage for the months of December through March at the customer's current residence. The WRCMA will be calculated each year (rounded up to the nearest tenth) after the billing cycle is run in March, from usage data for the December through March billing periods of the immediately preceding three years.

Any customer who does not have water usage history with the utility at the premises at which he or she has requested service shall be assigned the WRCMA for purposes of computing their SPUAL.

All water consumed above the assigned summer peak usage adjustment level during the months of July, August and September will be provided at the rate of two times the published rate per 100 cu. ft. of water.

Irrigation water rates are determined by multiplying the applicable consumption rate and service charge by a factor of 1.15. The service charge shall be $7.00 per month for November through April billing periods for irrigation meters.

Rural water rates are determined by multiplying the applicable consumption rate and service charge by factor of 1.10.

Rural water rates for customers connected to the Aurora distribution line are determined by multiplying the applicable consumption rate and service charge by a factor of 1.25.

Commercial Water Rates

Meter Size	Minimum Rate
5/8", 3/4" or 1'	$9.25
1 1/4" or 1 1/2"	$28.00
2"	$43.00
3"	$93.00
4"	$146.00
6"	$305.00
8"	$530.00
10"	$830.00

Usage Charge:

$1.213 per 100 cu. ft.

The following additional conditions shall be applicable to all water provided during the monthly billing periods of July, August and September:

Each customer will be assigned a Summer Peak Usage Adjustment Level (SPUAL). The SPUAL will be set at an amount equal to 300% of the greater of the Winter Residential City Monthly Average (WRCMA) or the average of the customer's most recent monthly usage for the months of December through March at the customer's current residence. The WRCMA will be calculated each year (rounded up to the nearest tenth) after the billing cycle is run in March, from usage data for the December through March billing periods of the immediately preceding three years.

Any customer who does not have water usage history with the utility at the premises at which he or she has requested service shall not be assigned a SPUAL until after they have established a three month billing history.

All water consumed above the assigned summer peak usage adjustment level during the months of July, August and September will be provided at the rate of two times the published rate per 100 cu. ft. of water.

Irrigation water rates are determined by multiplying the applicable consumption rate and service charge by a factor of 1.15. The service charge shall be $7.00 per month for November through April billing periods for irrigation meters.

Rural water rates are determined by multiplying the applicable consumption rate and service charge by factor of 1.10.

Rural water rates for customers connected to the Aurora distribution line are determined by multiplying the applicable consumption rate and service charge by a factor of 1.25.

Restricting Use (May 1st - September 30th)

The Utility reserves the right to at any time to restrict the use of said water, and now approves the use of water for the purpose of irrigating, sprinkling or watering lawns on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday for properties whose U.S. Postal address is an even number, and only on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for properties whose U.S. Postal address is an odd number.
The use of water for flower or vegetable gardens, shrubs, hanging or potted plants, washing cars, filling kiddie wading pools, etc. is unrestricted.

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