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By Michelle McLean

Nearly a decade after first proposing a new water treatment plant for the City of Hillsboro, Charlie Vein was back with an “update” at Monday’s city commission meeting.

Vein, president of Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services of Grand Forks, provided updated cost estimates for three major improvements to the city’s water distribution, storage and treatment systems. All three improvements were part of a 120-page facility plan and report prepared by AE2S in 1999. 

A new city water treatment plant would cost between $2.7 million and $6.8 million — depending on the treatment process chosen, Vein reported. Ten years ago, the price quote for similar options was between $3 million and $5 million.

Today’s lesser expensive model uses the same treatment as the existing plant — iron and manganese removal. The more costly project employs a membrane process that delivers softened water.

The question arose whether a vote of the people was needed to move forward with a construction plan. State law isn’t clear on the issue, commissioners learned.

Vein said that “if the city buys ‘water,’ the people vote but if the city buys  ‘treatment’ then the commission could decide the matter.”

City attorney John Juelson said the public would likely vote on the financing for the project.

On the back burner for nearly a decade, talk of a new municipal water plant was renewed when Traill Rural Water District made an offer several years ago to work with the city to build a new plant. As the Clifford, N.D.-based rural water group moves forward with its own improvement plans, the time has come for Hillsboro officials to decide if a joint plant is in their best interests.

City officials have been informed that a municipal plant will not qualify for state and federal funding. Meanwhile, regional projects like TRWD’s improvements do qualify and the group has received up to 70 percent of funding for its Phase 1 upgrades.

A new proposal on the table has Hillsboro building a new regional water treatment plant that would treat water piped from TRWD’s Galesburg aquifer. The water would then be distributed to Hillsboro’s municipal customers as well as two-thirds of TRWD’s customers, mostly in eastern Traill County. A similar plant would be built in Mayville to serve customers in the western part of the county.

“Traill Rural Waters wants to get out of the business of treating water,” explained Vein, whose firm is also designing TRWD’s improvements.

Vein promised figures for the regional plant options at the commission’s next meeting April 7 so Hillsboro city officials can compare costs and options.

TRWD has been negotiating a joint powers agreement with the City of Mayville to provide raw water to the city from TRWD’s wellfield. The two entities have invited the City of Hillsboro to join in a regional water system. Hillsboro city officials continue to weigh their options and have not made any final decisions. The door is open for the city to script its own Joint Powers Agreement.

TRWD has asked city officials to come to some sort of decision soon, however. Phase I of their improvement plan — a new wellfield and pipeline to Mayville — is already being developed, funded by a $984,000 federal grant. Phase 2 involves internal improvements. Phase 3 is the proposed regional water treatment plants.

Hillsboro’s existing treatment plant dates from 1966. It has the capacity to deliver about 400 gallons of treated water per minute. A  new plant would like be sized at about 600 gallons per minute, Vein recommended.

Vein outlined additional improvements which were included in the 1999 study but not yet completed,  including the addition of a second 10-inch supply line from the wells west of town. At an estimated cost of $276,000, the improvement would help the distribution system meet the “full fire flows” required and could result in decreased insurance premium rates because of added safety in the overall municipal system, Vein noted.

The third major improvement would erect a new 250,000 gallon water tower. The estimated cost would be $977,000. The proposed site for the new water tower would be just south east of the armory.

The city’s existing water tower  dates from 1933 and holds 90,000 gallons. The 1999 study suggested a second water tower with an additional 150,000 gallons of overhead storage was needed for the city’s water distribution system. The new proposal recommends a single, larger water tower. A new water tower is regarded as the final phase of a four-phase improvement plan.

Vein said any new plant construction would have an 18-month time frame. He suggested that bidding be done in the first three months of the year.

Vein said that operation and maintenance costs will also be part of the future discussion for commissioners.

With the 1999 study as a guide, the city has completed — in piecemeal fashion since 2005 — upgrades to the water supply and distribution system, including the $1.2 million water main project in 2006.