More than $25 million in proposed federal funding for 21 Nebraska water infrastructure projects is now sitting in a Senate appropriations bill, with small towns like Orchard and Bassett among those in line for cash to fix aging wells, pipes and treatment systems. Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer announced the funding package Friday, pointing to specific line items that would send $2 million to the Village of Orchard, $1 million to the City of Bassett, and $1.12 million to West Knox Rural Water.
According to KBRX, Fischer is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and said she will continue directing federal funds to Nebraska to support reliable water systems. The money is tucked inside the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2027, which the Senate Appropriations Committee released but which still awaits consideration by the full Senate. That means none of the proposed amounts are guaranteed until lawmakers vote.
Orchard's $2 million would go toward a new municipal well and transmission lines, while Bassett's $1 million is earmarked for wastewater system improvements, per the station's report. West Knox Rural Water's $1.12 million is specifically tied to nitrate mitigation, addressing a contaminant that has become a costly and recurring problem for groundwater systems across the state. West Knox Rural Water currently supplies the communities of Verdigre and Winnetoon along with 260 rural customers, according to the Lower Niobrara Natural Resources District.
Nitrate Costs Have Hit Small Towns Hard
Nitrate contamination is not a new fight for rural Nebraska. Roughly 85% of Nebraskans rely on groundwater pumped from the ground for their drinking water, according to UNL Water, which makes nitrate levels in aquifers a statewide concern rather than an isolated issue. Since 2010, 59 of Nebraska's 598 community water systems — roughly 10% — have tested above the EPA nitrate standard at least once, according to Nebraska Public Media.
The price tag for fixing that problem keeps climbing. Nebraska Public Media reports the state will likely fund roughly $49 million in water projects serving only 18,000 residents this fiscal year alone, and that some 67 public water systems statewide have already installed costly filtration systems. In towns with fewer than 500 residents, annual maintenance costs for those systems can reach $650 per person, the outlet notes.
How Other Nebraska Towns Have Paid for Clean Water
The scale of investment elsewhere in the state shows what Orchard, Bassett and West Knox County may be facing even with federal help. Hastings has already spent $15 million on a reverse osmosis system built to strip nitrate from its groundwater, a system that costs $60 per person each year just to keep running, per UNL Water. Nebraska Public Media found that five separate water treatment projects in McCook, Seward, Hastings, Pender and Creighton carried a combined capital cost of $34 million.
Smaller communities have faced similarly steep bills relative to their size. Creighton, Brunswick, Orchard, Osmond and Plainview together have invested nearly $9 million to secure clean drinking water for a combined population just under 4,000, according to UNL Water. That history underscores why the proposed federal dollars for Orchard's well project and West Knox's nitrate mitigation effort matter to local budgets, even as the broader appropriations bill awaits a full Senate vote.
