After seven years of political battles, one year of construction and five million dollars spent, Aberdeen residents will soon be receiving water from the Brown County Rural Water Association.

BCRWA board members and officials invited Aberdeen Mayor Jason Phillips and council members to mark the completion of the project on August 24.

The process of bringing water to the entire village will be gradual, with lines being tested and flushed as the water is introduced into the Aberdeen system.

The process is expected to be complete in about 30 days.

Aberdeen Mayor Jason Phillips said he is looking forward to completing the process.

“I’m excited for it.  The people of the village voted for this and they are getting what they asked for. We just finished a tour of the (BCRWA) water plant.  Things look great and we will be in good shape once it’s all completed,” said Phillips.

The addition of Aberdeen will add about a thousand new customers to the BCRWA.

“That’s about a ten percent growth in our customer base,” said BCRWA President Lowell Allen.

“There was little opportunity for us to grow in Brown County, so when you get an opportunity to grow and also provide good service, that’s a win-win.”

BCRWA General Manager Dan Sarbach said that 22 miles of new pipeline and a new water tower were built to complete the project.

He added that he is glad to see a difficult project finally coming to an end.

“I am very proud that this company did everything that we said would do during this process.  Now we are on the doorstep of supplying and maintaining the entire village and we look forward to it,” said Sarbach.

“When the people of Aberdeen begin getting our water and see our service, that will be the reward for me,” Sarbach said.

Aberdeen Council Member Billie Eitel said she also felt a sense of personal pride.

“It’s going to be very rewarding to me, after all the disagreements and arguments and everything else, to finally have good clean drinkable water,” said Eitel.

“I am very proud.  Sometimes it was very hard to put up with some of the arguments and fingerpointing and other issues during this process.  But I’m still here at the end to see something positive happen for Aberdeen.”

Eitel also mentioned former Aberdeen Council Member Jim Perrault and Phillips as deserving of recognition for the completion of the water project.