State Invests $119 million in water for Bakken
By Neal A. Shipman Farmer Editor
The Western Area Water Supply Project (WAWSP), which is a public
drinking water project that is projected to serve 100,000 people in all
or parts of Burke, Divide, McKenzie, Mountrail and Williams counties
within the next 20 years, will be receiving $40 million as part of House
Bill (HB) 1020 that has been signed by Gov. Jack Dalrymple. HB 1020,
which is the State Water Commission budget, will fund important water
projects across the state. The $40 million appropriation has an emergency clause for (WAWSP) with
more than half of that funding going toward improving and expanding the
Williston Regional Water Treatment Plant (WTP), which is critical to the
WAWSP’s progress. HB 1020 also includes an additional $79 million for the Western Area
Water Supply Authority (WAWSA) to expand its pipeline system to serve
the area’s growing population, as well as rural residents. “We thank Gov. Dalrymple and the Legislature for approving WAWSA’s
funding requests,” says Jaret Wirtz, executive director of the WAWSA.
“The expansion of the Williston Regional Water Treatment Plant is
absolutely crucial to the project’s success. We’re pleased that funding
is in place to continue the progress on this amazing drinking water
project.” The Williston Regional WTP draws water from the Missouri River, treats
it, and then sends it through miles of pipeline to Williston residents
and regional WAWSA customers. So far, WAWSA water from the Williston Regional WTP is being delivered
to Watford City residents, who have been very pleased with the high
quality of the water. Later this month, the R&T System which serves
Ray, Tioga, and Stanley with extended pipelines to Wildrose and Crosby,
will begin augmenting its water supply with service from the Williston
Regional WTP. Currently, the WTP is under construction to increase its capacity of 10
million gallons per day (MGD) to 14 MGD with funding that was previously
provided to WAWSA. This summer, an additional Williston water treatment
plant upgrade will begin with the goal of increasing the capacity from
14 MGD to 21 MGD to meet the need for the near-term population
projections within the WAWSA service territory. “The city of Williston is permitted to use 36 million gallons a day, so
we have a lot of capacity to utilize, but we need to expand our plant
capacity to do that,” explains Monte Meiers, the Williston director of
Public Works/Engineering. “Last year, we experienced close to our
maximum day usage with the hot temperatures and drier conditions.” The water treatment plant expansion to 21 MGD is expected to be completed by 2015. The $14 million of emergency funding that is not going toward the water
treatment plant expansion will fund the construction of the Williston
bypass transmission line later this summer. Seven miles of 36- and
30-inch pipe will run from the Williston Regional WTP along the west
side of Williston, to the five million gallon Northwest Williston
Reservoir. A new pump station and reservoir will also be built to
benefit the rural areas west of Williston. For more information about the WAWSP, check out www.WAWSP.com.
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