Central Iowa Water Works Inks Final Signatures in Preparation for Jan. 1, 2025

DES MOINES, Iowa (Dec. 31, 2024) — The journey to prepare Central Iowa Water Works (CIWW) for its role as the operational wholesale drinking water authority for the region is complete in time for the scheduled Jan. 1, 2025, start date.

While central Iowans will not notice significant changes in terms of their water providers, how they pay their monthly bill or who they call for customer service, CIWW ushers in a new spirit of cooperation and collaboration for managing resources and ensuring an ample supply of safe, reliable water for the future. The penultimate step giving CIWW ownership of the region’s water treatment facilities occurred late last week. [See attached photo.]

“It’s rare that such a major change in the ownership and governance of an essential service has no adverse effects on customer experience,” CIWW Board Chair Jody Smith said. “At midnight on Jan. 1, 2025, CIWW is the operational wholesale drinking water authority, owned and governed by 12 founding entities who will make decisions together about everything from source water integrity and protections to treatment processes and rate-setting.”

In the past, most of the metro cities and water utilities bought at least a portion of their water from Des Moines Water Works. Now, each member will only purchase wholesale water from CIWW and then set the cost for its own ratepayers.

The CIWW Board has spent much of 2024 formalizing the entity’s structure, hiring an executive director, approving an initial budget, and setting the first wholesale water rates for the region. CIWW has four water producers—Des Moines Water Works, West Des Moines Works, and the cities of Grimes and Polk City—with the capacity to serve more than 600,000 central Iowans.

“Regionalization is a big word in the water industry these days, yet very few metro areas have been able to accomplish what CIWW has,” CIWW Executive Director Tami Madsen said.