Senators visit BE water treatment facility
BELW requesting state funding for proposed facility improvements
Last week, Minnesota’s Senate Capital Investment Committee visited over 35 communities in southwest Minnesota as part of a multi-day 2023 bonding tour.
One of their destinations was the drinking water treatment facility in Blue Earth, for which Blue Earth Light & Water (BELW) is requesting $8.6 million in direct state bond appropriations to finance a proposed improvement project for the facility.
BELW is applying for state bonding funds to supplement funding provided by the Point Source Implementation Grant (PSIG) program and low-interest loans.
Senator Sandy Pappas, chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee, said the committee’s purpose in visiting Blue Earth on Thursday, Oct. 5, was to learn about the individual circumstances surrounding the project.
“Visiting communities in-person gives legislators a chance to experience the unique circumstances each town or city brings to the table,” Pappas explained. “When we tour project sites and get a chance to talk to local leaders, we learn vital context for these infrastructure projects that may not come through in a packet of information or a presentation at the Capitol.”
Pappas added, “Nothing compares to walking down a road that needs repair, visiting an outdated water treatment center, or stepping inside a community center and seeing the improvements these facilities need first hand.”
Pappas, committee vice chair Senator Susan Pha, and committee members Senator Scott Dibble, Senator John Jasinski, Senator Zaynab Mohamed, Senator Tou Xiong and Senator Eric Pratt, as well as local senator Rich Draheim, arrived in Blue Earth at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning for their in-person tour of the drinking water facility. BELW general manager Tim Stoner led a short presentation explaining the improvements toward which the state bonding funds would be allocated.
The improvements will, in part, improve the community’s drinking water quality. Additionally, the improvements will address an anticipated compliance issue; Blue Earth’s wastewater treatment facility will be receiving chloride limits in its upcoming permit renewal as required by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).
The permit limits are designed to address water quality issues caused by excessive chloride discharge into the Blue Earth River.
Though the compliance issue technically concerns the wastewater plant, BELW has determined that the most efficient way to reduce the community’s chloride discharge is by addressing the issue through the supply side – in other words, by improving the system for treating the community’s drinking water.
Currently, residents and businesses use significant amounts of water softeners to treat water hardness, which leads to chloride discharge.
However, BELW’s proposed improvements to the water treatment facility include the addition of a centralized reverse osmosis (RO) softening system that is expected to reduce the treated water hardness by over 85 percent, thereby reducing the community’s need for water softeners.
“This is probably one of the best scenarios for Blue Earth,” Stoner observed. “The compliance helps clean up discharge into the rivers while improving the overall regional environment. The community gets a new water plant that secures reliable drinking water infrastructure for decades.”
The project’s total estimated cost is $15.6 million, although BELW hopes to offset $8.6 million of that cost through state bonding.
According to Stoner, it is possible that the funds will be awarded during the 2024 Minnesota Legislative Session.
In anticipation of the project, BELW is implementing a gradual 10 percent annual increase in water rates from 2020 through 2024 to help minimize the impact of rate increases following the project’s completion.
Without the requested bonding appropriation, average user rates are expected to increase by up to $15 per month.
However, the project is expected to reduce average user expenses by 25 percent. It will also eliminate softener salt usage, and the improved water quality will increase the longevity of water heaters.
Following the Capital Investment Committee’s visit to the drinking water treatment facility, Pappas explained that the committee is interested in awarding funds to a variety of infrastructure-related projects, and will consider several factors when awarding state bonding funds.
“Clean drinking water is obviously a high priority,” she noted.
Pappas said the committee will also evaluate the needs of each individual community as well as the project’s potential impact upon both the community and its surrounding area.
“Obviously, we want to see a regional impact,” she explained.