OTTUMWA — “Never again.”

That’s what Richard Wilcox recently said about last year’s water woes.

The waterworks general manager meant what he said. Since the Aug. 24, 2007 water crisis, he and his team have studied, brainstormed and worked diligently to find ways to prevent another event like that one.

The pump room was the first place on Wilcox’s tour of changes at Ottumwa Water Works, which purifies water for drinking. That’s where the storm water from heavy rains entered the plant and the crisis began.

“See this red motor here? Our first move, if crisis occurs, is to pull this motor and get it upstairs. We didn’t have time last year and the contaminated water damaged all the pumps,” he said.

Now the plant has a hoist that can pick up the third motor and take it up high and away from the basement-level pumping area.

“That’s one component we’ve changed,” he said. “We don’t run all three pumps — two are alike and the third one is upstairs. It’s a preventative thing to eliminate the threat and we’ve developed the concept of a remote storage place ... so we wouldn’t be waiting for clean motors.”

Across from the pump area were ground-level louvres, which were the point of entry for fouled water. Wilcox speculated the vents were there to cool pump motors because the electrical usage in the room “makes a lot of heat.”

Last year’s deluge overwhelmed an already overtaxed sewer beside Ottumwa Water and Hydro’s water purification plant. Wilcox said that sewer drains a 600-acre area and the storm water’s rush blew off the sewer’s cover, which had several inches of concrete and dirt on it.

Sewage and Des Moines River water entered the basement and the water plant’s front doors visitors enter.

“We did a lot of cleaning here. For weeks we were scrubbing, wiping down and disinfecting,” he said. “We have new paint and polished floors now.”

Another component of protection is an additional sump pump, a third one that’s bigger than the other two put together, Wilcox said.

The sewer line out front is capped with a large quantity of concrete and dirt. There’s now a T-valve on that line and Wilcox said the valve will soon be controlled electronically.

“We’re open 24/7. There’s always an operator here and with one click of a mouse he can activate the T-valve and shut it down,” he said.

After the initial contamination, the waterworks plant was a busy place while the Iowa National Guard built a berm, which is still there. But, it’s eroding some and may come down in November.