A St. Benedict area (small unincorporated town NW of Seneca) steering committee formed in 1971 in hopes to satisfy a need for water for the town and surrounding farms and residences. This relatively small initial area quickly grew to cover most of the northern 3/4 of Nemaha County as well as parts of Marshall and Brown Counties. Initial interest was shown from 659 rural patrons, the Cities of Centralia and Corning, including the unincorporated towns of St. Benedict, St. Bridgett, and Kelly.
RWD No. 3, Nemaha County incorporated in 1972. Construction of three water supply wells, five booster pump stations, six water storage tanks and 500 miles of PVC pipeline, ranging in size from 1.5-inch through six-inch, were quickly completed. Water service started 1975-6 with first year revenues of $128,000 from sales of 69 million gallons to 643 patrons.
Rural Water District No. 2, Baileyville, transferred its operation, assets and liabilities over to RWD No. 3 in 2017. RWD No. 2 consisted of 26 miles of pipeline, one booster pump station and one water storage tank with 148 patrons. RWD No. 2 was formed in 1969 for the purpose of providing water to the Baileyville community including the Baileyville (B&B) Schools. The main source of water for RWD No. 2 was wholesale water purchase from the City of Seneca. RWD No. 3 continues to purchase water from Seneca to serve the majority of the former RWD No. 2 territory.
Today water is provided by RWD No.3 to 1,230 rural patrons, including the unincorporated towns in its' territory. RWD No. 3 also provides wholesale water to the City of Centralia and the City of Corning. Supplemental/emergency supply interconnects are also in place with the City of Oneida, Marshall County RWD No. 3 and Nemaha County RWD No.4. Water sales for year 2017 reached 285 million gallons with revenues of one million dollars. Current RWD No. 3 infrastructure includes seven water supply wells with capacity ranging from 200-400 GPM each; Three treatment facilities; Seven water tanks with total storage capacity of 1.2 million gallons; Seven booster pump stations; Six pipeline pressure control stations; and 692 miles of pipeline, ranging in size from one-inch to 12-inch PVC.
Nemaha County RWD No. 3 is proud to be an important link in improving the quality of life and economic success of the community we serve. The success of our community is, in large part, due to the vision and hard work of those that worked diligently in the formation of RWD No. 3.