Des Moines Water Works disguises booster station as house

Aug 06, 2023

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The green house just southwest of Ankeny on Northwest 26th Street was just built about a year ago. It has a long driveway and beautiful landscaping.

But the commuters driving by on their way to work won't ever see a car pulling into the garage or the morning paper delivered to the front door.

When Kyle Danley turns his key and steps into the foyer, you don't have to be a realtor to see this isn't a normal house.

Massive blue pipes fill the "living room," pumping hundreds of gallons of water every minute to Polk City and homes in rural Polk County.

"We did the architecture to look like a small home in the neighborhood and conceal that it's actually a booster station capable of delivering 3.5 million gallons of water every day to Polk City and unincorporated parts of Polk County," said Kyle, Danley with Des Moines Water Works, the "homeowner."

These hidden stations are rare but not uncommon. There's at least one other similar decoy used by Des Moines Water Works on the city's northeast side.

This one is a bit more luxurious, brand new, and even features a "garage" heated by a generator.

"If there was a power outage, this generator, it will immediately within seconds turn on, transfer the load so we can switch the load on the pumps so we can continuously provide water to Polk City and unincorporated Polk County," Danley said.

From the booster station, the water flows underground, filling the Polk City water tower and eventually two-thirds of the homes in town.

So if you live nearby, go ahead and skip the pleasantries of buying or baking a housewarming gift. Because the only thing living in this house is a façade created to keep the neighborhood looking neighborly.

"This is a very residential neighborhood, and we want it to blend in with the neighborhood," Danley said.