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The last section of 24-inch pipe was laid Wednesday, Nov. 4, for the long-awaited Lewis and Clark Regional Water System connection to Luverne.
Carstensen Contracting out of Pipestone is the contractor for this portion of the project, which includes 18 miles of 24-inch pipe from the Minnesota-Iowa border. The substantial completion deadline in early December.
Luverne will start taking Lewis and Clark water when the meter house is completed in early January. Robert L. Carr, Marshall, is the contractor for the meter building.
Luverne has long ago paid for its portion of the regional system, which stalled at the Iowa border nearly three years ago when federal funding ran out.
Roughly two-thirds of the Iowa-to-Luverne contract, awarded in the fall of 2014, is paid for by the state of Minnesota as a federal funding advance approved during the last legislative session.
The rest of the funding is from the FY14 federal appropriation.
This was the first pipeline contract awarded for the Lewis and Clark project since June 2012.
When completed, the system will be able to deliver up to 821,000 gallons of water per day to Luverne.
Lewis and Clark is currently delivering water to 11 of its 20 members. Luverne will be the 13th member connected.
Separate from the Carstensen contract, Rock County Rural Water District was the 12th member to receive water. It was connected earlier this year.
When complete, the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System will provide treated water from the Missouri River aquifer to more than 300,000 people in the tri-state area.
Luverne and other Lewis & Clark member systems will use this new source of water to either replace or supplement existing sources of supply.