Lyons' Water Clears up After Repairing Temporary Filter, Treatment Plant Almost Ready
By Aaron Bonderson 
, Report for America Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Dec. 20, 2021, 6 a.m. ·
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Lyons, a town of about 800 people in eastern Nebraska, has mostly resolved its water filtering troubles.
After an extended period of time with brown water caused by manganese, Lyons repaired its temporary mobile filter this week. Terry Uding, the utilities manager for Lyons, said the amount of manganese in the town’s water has improved in the last week after mending its provisional filter.
The state recommends that tap water have less than 1 part per million of manganese, and Uding said the Lyons currently has levels below 0.5 parts per million.
“I would like to see them down even lower than that,” he said. “Hopefully, with the new one, we will be. But the levels are way lower right now...They’re doing really good.”
Uding said the town’s treatment plant with new filters is about two weeks away from being ready. Lyons will also send two water samples to Nebraska’s Department of Environment and Energy.
If the samples meet the department’s standards, Lyons will replace the patched up mobile filter with the brand new filtration system at the treatment plant in the coming weeks.