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Officials with Lewis & Clark Regional Water System honored a Luverne man for his dedication to the decades-long project to bring drinking water to Rock County and the tri-state area.
Lennis “Red” Arndt is chairman of the system’s executive committee.
He was a member of the original Lewis & Clark board and has advocated for the additional drinking water source to the city of Luverne and Rock County since the system’s inception in 1990.
The local connection to the pipeline occurred in 2016.
Water originates from the Missouri River near Vermillion, South Dakota, and is pumped to the system’s 20 member cities and rural water systems.
On July 25 the Rock County Pump Station, located south of Luverne, was dedicated and renamed in Arndt’s honor.
Murray Hulstein, vice chairman on the system’s executive board, presented Arndt with a replica of a hand pump at the Thursday morning ceremony.
“Because Red has been a solid rock through the years and has always pumped us up when needed, I cannot think of a more fitting way to recognize Red’s countless contributions than by dedicating the Rock County Pump Station in his honor,” he said.
The pump station is the second Lewis & Clark structure to be dedicated in Arndt’s honor. The Luverne meter building was the first.
Arndt served as the city of Luverne’s public utilities director. He retired in 2003.
He has received numerous awards for his work on the Lewis & Clark system including the Henry Walraven award, the association’s highest honor given through the Minnesota Rural Water Association.