Water Department
Contact:
Mike Davies
Public Works Director
225 East D Street
Gering, NE 69341
Phone: (308) 436.6800
Email: mdavies@gering.org
Water Conservation, Drought and Emergency Contingency Plan The Gering City Council adopted an ordinance establishing a water conservation, drought and emergency contingency plan for all City water customers. This ordinance will only be placed into effect if conditions warrant.
To start, discontinue water service or request a transfer of service call the Gering Utility office at (308) 436-6800, Monday through Friday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. You will need to be prepared to provide the service address, the billing address, a phone number and the start or end date for the service.
Water Lines and Homeowner’s Responsibility
The City of Gering is responsible for maintaining and replacing the water mains throughout our service area. The City also maintains and replaces the water service lines from the water main to the curb stop, the curb stop is located on or near the property line. Any leak after the curb stop is the customer’s responsibility to repair and shall be repaired by a licensed plumber.
Promptly Report and Repair Water Leaks
If you believe see a water leak immediately Call the City of Gering (308) 436-6800 Monday through Friday from 7:30 AM to 4:30 PM, for after hours and holidays call (308) 436-5088. The City does not charge for checking or shutting water off water for leaks.
Repair leaks as quickly as possible, even a small leak can cause serious damage to homes, driveways, sidewalks and streets. Water damage from a leak may not be covered in a typical homeowner’s insurance policy. Contact your insurance agent to see if you have coverage.
What do I look for to determine if I have a water leak?
Inside the home
Look for your water meter, once you’ve located your water meter check the low flow indicator to see if it is moving, (low flow indicators are a red triangle, black triangle, red needle or on digital meters it is a small circle with + flashing inside the circle to indicate flow. If the triangle or needle are moving or the + is flashing in the circle you have water flowing through the meter. Make sure all faucets and appliances that use water are turned off. Again check the low flow indicator on the water meter, if the indicator is moving then water is still running through the water meter and you may have a leak.
Common water losses in the home:
Leaking toilet, (most common)
- Underground sprinkler system valves or pipe leaking
- Leaking faucets
- Leak under concrete floor
Outside the home
Garden hose left running.
- An area of your grass is greener and growing substantially faster than the rest of the lawn
- Soft and spongy area in the lawn
- Water bubbling up from underground in lawn, sidewalk or street
- Sudden settlement of curb, sidewalk, driveway, street or lawn
- A sound inside the home of water always running but meter is not turning
Water leaks may begin leaking days, weeks or months before the leak will surface. Water leaks should be immediately repaired to prevent damage to structures. Water can travel along the pipe and under the home and cause costly repairs to the home that your insurance company may not cover.
Water leaks can be very expensive to repair. The City recommends you check with your insurance company to verify if you have or can get coverage for the cost damages and repairs from water leaks.
If you believe you have or see a water leak please call the City of Gering Utility Office at 436-6800.
What you can do to prevent cross connections and keep your drinking water safe.
Nebraska’s Safe Drinking Water Act requires water systems to implement an on-going cross connection control program. An important part of this program is public education. It is believed that a well-informed public will be more aware of the possibility of cross connections within their property and will take reasonable and sensible precautions to avoid creating cross connections on their property.
What is a cross connection?
A cross connection occurs whenever there is an actual or potential physical connection between the public drinking water system and any possible source of contamination. Sources of contamination can include both high hazard materials, which can cause illness or death, and low or non-hazardous materials which are mainly just a nuisance and can cause the water to look, taste or smell unpleasant. Although the high hazards are the primary concern in a cross connection control program, your water utility strives to provide both safe and good quality water to its customers. Whenever there is a loss of pressure in the public water supply, these cross connections can allow unsafe substances to enter the public water supply.
What causes cross connections?
Cross connections can be caused by both permanent and temporary “piping”. An example of a cross connection being permanently piped in is the drain on a water softener. Many times these discharge lines are connected directly to the sewer line without any type of protection. Hot tub and whirlpool fill pipes and swimming pools and boiler make-up lines are other examples of permanently piped cross connections.
The most common example of a temporary piped cross connection is the common garden hose. It is estimated that 90% of all cross connections are caused by the inappropriate use of garden hoses. Garden hoses are frequently used to apply fertilizer and pesticides to lawns and gardens. They are also used to fill swimming pools, wash cars, and in rural areas, they are often used to fill stock tanks for watering cattle, horses, and other livestock. Other temporary piping cross connections occur when hoses are used to fill waterbeds or are connected to utility sinks to fill wash tubs or mop buckets.
What are the consequences of cross connections?
The consequences of cross connections can range from something as simple as “dirty water” to something as severe as serious illness or even death. There are many recorded instances of non-hazardous contamination of public water supplies caused by cross connections. In one case, a line used for cleaning a distilling vat in a wine bottling company was left open and an entire vat of wine flowed back into the public water system. Although this was not a health hazard, and most of the customers liked the water they drank, this cross connection could have had far deadlier results if it had been something other than wine in the vat. There are many instances recorded where people have been made seriously ill or even died due to cross connections. There have been cases where dysentery, diarrhea, hepatitis and even polio have been contracted as a direct result of a cross connection.
How can cross connections be prevented?
The best way to prevent cross connections is for each customer to examine the plumbing on their premises and look for any permanent or temporary piped cross connections. Any time there is the possibility of a cross connection between the water supply and any hazardous or unknown substance, there should be an air gap between the faucet and the questionable use. In cases where this is not possible, as with a garden hose, a proper backflow prevention device or assembly should be installed on the supply faucet. This will protect both the public water supply and the inhabitants of the building from contamination. In situations where extremely high hazards exist in a building or location, it is sometimes necessary to contain that entire system from the public water supply with a backflow preventer to protect the public water supply from the substances being used on that site.
The City of Gering has several planned water system projects over the next several years. The City has been concentrating on the replacement of water mains installed between 1917 and 1928. These mains are between M Street & U Street and 5th to 17th Street. If current funding remains in place the final phase of this main replacement project is planned to be completed in 2028 at an estimated cost of 3.2 million dollars. Funds for this project are received from the City’s customers through the monthly payment of water bills.