Explore Okoboji
Listen Now! music notes icon
Listen! music notes icon 77° sun icon
  • Home
  • News
  • City Of Wahpeton Moving Forward With Improvements/Expansion Of Water Plant

City Of Wahpeton Moving Forward With Improvements/Expansion Of Water Plant

October 10, 2023 Steve Schwaller

(Wahpeton)– The city of Wahpeton is moving ahead with plans for an expansion and renovation of its water treatment facility. The city council Monday evening approved professional service agreements for the project with an engineering firm and a financial consultant. Mark Hardy of the Howard R. Green Engineering firm tells KUOO news there are a couple of factors that are driving the need for the $12.5 million project…

“The city is growing and it’s needing to be expanded so they can meet the needs and not be pushed to the limits during the summer months. So this project will give them more capacity and also provides some redundancy and some parallel treatment that will help if something breaks down they’ll have a back up and will be able to be more reliable that way. And also we’re providing some additional treatment capacity or capability to handle some newer regulations that are on the horizon and they’re dealing with. It will help them just upgrade the quality of water that they discharge from the plant.”

Hardy says they’re still pretty early into the process…

“We just finished up a preliminary engineering report and now we’re acquiring some funding and corresponding with DNR to get the study approved and get it on the state’s Intended Use Plan.”

Hardy adds any actual construction is probably won’t happen until about 2025…

“We’re working with DNR whether we’re going to do a pilot study or not, and then there will be several months of design before construction will begin.”

The council did review possible options to finance the project with Tim Oswald of Piper Sandler and Company. They include water revenue bonds that would be paid through water rates; or a general obligation bond that would be based off property taxes. The council made no decision last night on which option to pursue. Councilman Harold Prior said he feels it isn’t fair to put the burden of the cost on rate payers. He says spreading it out among property tax payers in the city would be more equitable in his mind. Prior noted only about 10 percent of Wahpeton’s population are year-round residents and that the project is largely intended to help meet peak demand for just a few busy days during the summer.

Back to News