Milford Municipal Utilities Looking At Major Upgrade For Water Treatment Plant
Milford Municipal Utilities Looking At Major Upgrade For Water Treatment Plant
October 20, 2021Steve Schwaller
(Milford)– Milford Municipal Utilities is planning a major upgrade for its water treatment plant. General Manager Brad Willemssen tells KUOO news the MMU board of directors is contemplating whether to expand the existing plant or to build a new one altogether…
“To rehab the current plant is $12.6 million, and to construct a new plant would be $18.6 million.”
Willemssen MMU water customers should expect to see a rate increase soon, regardless of what option is selected…
“With either one of these builds we’ll be starting a rate increase on the user fee. The end user fee is every connection to every property that goes to a meter in Milford. That’s what the end user fee is. That’s what the assessment is going to be, on the rates, so it will be a rate increase for each year for three years on that end user fee. First year will be $3.75 starting January 1st of ’22, and then the next year will be $4.70 and the year after that will be $5.85.”
As we reported previously, the Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved the sale of the former county shop property to MMU. Willemssen says that is a critical component of the project…
“That property is right north of the current water plant and that was a good contract for us to get done and work with the county getting that done, and I thank them for doing that, moving forward with that. That will expand our complex so we have room to build a new plant if that’s the direction we decide to go.”
Willemssen says it will take a year to design the project and another two years for construction. He says the current facility is 40 years old.
In addition to the city of Milford, MMU also provides drinking water to the city of West Okoboji along with interconnects to Wahpeton, Arnolds Park and Osceola Rural Water.
