Rural Water formulates response to city proposal on service

Talk about it

Another round of negotiations between Jamestown and Stutsman Rural Water District may be in the works.

Members of the Rural Water Board of Directors formulated a response to the city proposal during an executive session as part of its regular meeting Tuesday.

“We’re working with them and this presents another avenue,” said Terry Nieland, president of the board. “We want to work with them to get water to the people who need it.”

At issue is who provides water services to an area near Jamestown Regional Medical Center.

Negotiations Monday left the two sides far apart with the Rural Water suggesting the city pay it a royalty of $1.50 per 1,000 gallons and the city suggesting a royalty of about 6 cents per 1,000 gallons.

Geneva Kaiser, manager of Rural Water, said they realized the two parties were far apart but hoped a compromise could be reached.

The Rural Water board also reviewed this year’s construction progress and looked ahead to next year’s projects. Bob Keller, project manager for Bartlett and West, said the contractors were ending below-ground work this week because of frozen soil conditions.

Keller said the project is designed to bring water from the Carrington water treatment plant to users in and around Woodworth and areas to the south.

The 8-inch main line from the Carrington area to Woodworth was completed with work still remaining on the pumping stations. This portion of the project had a $2.9 million price tag.

By May, Woodworth should have water, Keller said.

Woodworth currently operates its own water system but has limited capacity. Most of the farms have their own wells, some of which have water quality problems.

A 230-mile project of smaller service lines delivering water to farms was only partially completed this year. The project has a $5.8 million price tag.

“About 60 miles got done and we’ll hook up about 45 accounts yet this year,” Keller said. “That should be completed by August 2013.”

Keller said that work is a continuation of this year’s projects and is already funded for completion next year.

Rural Water hopes to also construct a 250,000-gallon water tower at Woodworth and connect to farms and residences between Woodworth and the Medina and Cleveland area. Another phase of the project extends the water lines south of Interstate 94 to the Streeter area. These projects have not been funded at this time but are designed and could be bid soon after funding is available.

While the funding is not secured, the board of directors authorized Keller to begin seeking easements from property owners in the project areas. Easements allow Rural Water to bury water lines on private property.

Kaiser said the proposed North Dakota budget for the next biennium includes about $500 million for water projects. She said if $50 million were passed as an emergency funding bill, those funds could be used to fund projects that are ready to be bid with construction in 2013.

“If we could get the funding in February or March it would allow a May construction start,” Keller said.

Sun reporter Keith Norman can be reached at 701-952-8452 or by email at knorman@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, water