Missouri American Water acquires Eureka Water and Wastewater, plans pipeline construction

Missouri American Water President Rich Svindland announced the completion of the company’s acquisition of the City of Eureka water and wastewater systems, which serve approximately 4,000 water customers and 4,000 wastewater customers. This winter the company will begin construction of a new water pipeline to supply Eureka with water from its St. Louis County system.

“We are honored to provide clean, safe, and reliable water and wastewater service to our new customers in Eureka,” said Svindland. “Our team is looking forward to leveraging our experience and expertise to operate the water and wastewater systems efficiently, and to begin the construction of a new pipeline to connect them to our high-quality drinking water.”

The City of Eureka began initial conversations with Missouri American Water in 2018. In August 2020, more than 66 percent of Eureka voters supported a ballot measure to sell the systems for $28 million and make the utility their trusted water and wastewater provider.

“Eureka has grown, and with that the expertise and staffing required to run our systems greatly increased,” said Eureka Mayor Sean Flower. “It became increasingly difficult to find staffing and expertise for a system of this size while meeting federal and state regulations. Since the public vote in 2020, we have waited for the opportunity to have Missouri American Water as our water and wastewater provider. The City of Eureka can now redeploy the proceeds of this sale to invest in our community.”

A key driver for the sale was Missouri American Water’s ability to connect the city with drinking water supplied from the Missouri River.

“We know that building the connection to our drinking water system in St. Louis County, which draws from the Missouri River instead of groundwater wells, is a top priority for Eureka residents and businesses,” said Brian Eisenloeffel, Senior Director of Operations. “We’ve completed the initial engineering work, and now we’re excited to move forward with the construction phase of the project.”

Construction of the five-mile pipeline will be accomplished in three phases. The second and third phases are scheduled to begin next year and be completed in 2024.

Missouri American Water will also be making additional improvements to the water and wastewater systems. An audit of existing water meters has been conducted so new meters can be properly sized and upgraded for homes and businesses. The new Advanced Metering Infrastructure system, which will be deployed throughout Eureka over the next two months, will allow for potential leaks to be detected more quickly. The company has hired Eureka public works employees who are familiar with Eureka’s systems and will be onboarding and training them immediately.

Missouri American Water has committed to invest more than $37 million in the city’s water and wastewater systems over the next ten years to improve the city’s water quality, upgrade aging infrastructure, and maintain regulatory compliance.

The utility is working with city officials for a smooth transition of service. Customers will receive welcome packets by mail with important customer information. Customers can access the company’s online customer service portal, MyWater, which provides a one-stop-shop for viewing account details, signing up for paperless billing and autopay, reviewing service alerts, and more.

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