(Spirit Lake)– The city of Spirit Lake and Clay Regional Water are squaring off over who has rights to provide water to an area recently annexed into city limits. It runs along the east side of Highway 71 across from the Aardvark south to the Stables.
Clay Regional Water contends the area lies within its service territory, but the city disputes that. Clay Regional Water has filed lawsuits against the city in both state and federal court.
Meanwhile, the city, anxious to extend water to the area that’s prime for development, has obtained signatures from landowners and developers in that area that want to be served with CITY water and want to be detached from CRW’s service area. City officials presented the detachment requests to the Dickinson County Board of Supervisors on Monday. They voted unanimously to sign off on them.
City officials say they still plan to extend water mains to the disputed area this coming spring and summer…even though no rulings have been made yet in either court case.
