Water & Sewer Department

Water

The City of Hillsboro meets or exceeds all KDHE and EPA regulations and our customers expect a high quality water at their tap. We get our water from the Marion Reservoir where it is pumped 7 miles to the water treatment plant on the north edge of town. From there, the water is treated, disinfected, and stored in underground storage reservoirs before being pumped to the two water towers in town, and to the city of Peabody. 

It is our goal to deliver high quality water to our customers for a reasonable price. Our state-of-the-art treatment plant operates 24 hours a day. Many water analyzers continuously provide real time data for quality control via a SCADA computer system. Our integrated system alerts employees if any water quality parameters are exceeded, ensuring a rapid response to technical problems. 

Statistics 

  • There are 500,000 gallons of water in the big tower located on Tabor Campus and 80,000 gallons of water in the small tower near the grain elevator. 
  • The small tower is on the National Register of Historic Places and was built in 1928. Rehabilitation of the small tower was completed utilizing funds from the Heritage Trust Fund Grant from the Kansas State Historical Office. 
  • The production capacity of the water plant is 1.5 million gallons per day 
  • The City of Hillsboro sells treated water to the City of Peabody and pumps that water over 18 miles from the treatment plant to Peabody’s water tower 
  • In 2022, the City of Hillsboro used 110 million gallons 

Sewer

The sewage system in Hillsboro has over 20 miles of lines, nine lift stations, and lagoon treatment. Lift stations around town collect sewage and pump to the old wastewater treatment plant on South Wilson Street where the waste is screened. From there waste is pumped to the aerated lagoons, which are located northeast of town off Kanza road, to treat the residential and industrial wastewater produced in town. The three-cell treatment process takes approximately 120 days to complete from start to finish and can treat up to a 458 thousand gallons of waste a day. Hillsboro lagoons produces a high-quality effluent discharge that meets the EPA Clean Water Act requirements. Lagoon effluent is sampled and tested frequently at an independent laboratory to meet KDHE requirements. 

Staff Contacts

Name Title
Morgan A. Marler Sr. Water Treatment Technician