LINCOLN- Nearly $200 million in federal funding appropriated to the City of Lincoln by the Nebraska Legislature this year is already being put to use, including more than $120 million for projects that expand and upgrade the city's current water system. At least five other water-related projects, which had been previously identified by the city's Capital Improvement Program, were bumped to the top of a list of potential improvements following the appropriation of federal dollars to the city.

Last year, the Legislature had appropriated around $20 million of ARPA funding to the city, but upped that number to a substantial $177.5 million this year, allowing Lincoln to begin work on a long-planned project to create a second water source for the city. To do this, Lincoln will build water transmission lines from the city to wells situated close to the Missouri River, which will be used to fill up reservoirs already supplied by rivers from around Ashland.

According to Donna Garden, assistant director of Lincoln Transportation and Utilities, the second water source will give the city a backup plan should the rivers and wells surrounding Ashland dry up. "It connects the large transmission mains from Ashland to the Missouri together so we can move water between the two sources," said Garden, "The point is it gives us the ability to make sure water is available to all of Lincoln all the time once the Missouri is introduced."

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