North English Nearly Complete With Multi-Million Dollar Wastewater Project

NORTH ENGLISH – After years of work and millions of dollars in costs, the new North English wastewater plant is almost done. The old plant was built in 1950 and was unable to handle the town’s population. Frequently, water would leak into the city’s sewer system when it rained, overloading it. “This is something people certainly take for granted. Water and that kind of stuff you just don't think about, but it's a big deal,” said Mayor Dan Strohman. 

Work on a new wastewater plant began in 2016, funded by eight million dollars in USDA grants and loans. Using these funds, the city built a completely new plant and redid the town’s sewer mains. The project is set to be fully completed this spring. “Now we got a system that will last a good fifty years,” said Strohman. “We can actually put another fifty houses on this system without overloading it. That’s part of the plan. We’re not going to get fifty houses, but it would be nice if we did.”

The improvements to the city’s sewers and wastewater plant are part of a multistep plan Mayor Strohman hopes will revitalize the town. “We’ve got all the infrastructure pretty well handled. So now it’s time to move on and develop into a different area,” said Strohman. “Iowa County’s got a big shortage of houses. They got people who work in Amana and live in Cedar Rapids, they drive back and forth every day to work. Well, they’re not doing that because they want to. They have no place to live in Iowa County. We need to get new housing started.”

Currently, the city is discussing plans to build more houses on the north and west sides of town. Strohman discussed plans to purchase farmland on the northern edge of the city and build spec homes. “I don’t want a bunch of cheap houses, cause that just attracts all kinds of problems,” said the Mayor. At the moment, the city is looking for a developer to partner with on these new developments.

Also part of the revitalization plan is efforts to improve main street. In recent years, multiple new businesses have opened on main street, including Garcia Carpet, Seven K, Glaze the Galaxy, Southeast Iowa Insurance, Main Street Pub, and Affordable Auto. The city also expanded the fire station last year. Once work on the water plant is completed, the city will focus efforts on redoing main street.