The City held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new Water Treatment Plant on July 18. This project has been discussed at length by City officials over the years—and you may have heard and read about the project on many occasions. Now you can start seeing it! The treatment plant is at 6900 143rd Avenue NW, next to the City’s Public Works Facility. The proximity of the two buildings will allow for operational efficiencies since the Utilities Division works within the Public Works Department.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Mayor Mark Kuzma spoke about the process the City went through to get to this point of the project. With forward-thinking, the City began saving funds for this facility in 2004. Once the Council decided to move ahead with the project, various styles of facilities were studied, including regional options to provide water to multiple cities. Ultimately, the best scenario was to go with our own facility, supplying water through wells from underground aquifers. The project became more urgent in 2019 when our water sources began testing for above-recommended levels of manganese. The supply as a whole was still safe as only select wells had the higher levels. However, the City opted to address the issue with more urgency. A pilot study was conducted to determine the best filtration process; those results drove the final design of the new facility.
The Mayor thanked several individuals, including past and present Councils and staff, who brought this project to fruition. Representative Niska and Senator Bahr, along with their colleagues who supported this project, allowed the City to be awarded state bonding appropriation dollars in the amount of $3.2 million during the 2023 Legislative Session. These funds will reduce the amount of locally borrowed dollars. By reducing construction debt, future usage fees can be closer to what they are today. This is important since the cost of the facility and operational costs are paid for by municipal water users.
The City is excited to work with AE2S as the project manager and Magney Construction as the general contractor on this project. The facility will be constructed over two years and is expected to be fully operational by the Summer of 2025.
