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Construction is under way on a pipeline that will bring Minot's water to Kenmare.

The pipeline is part of the Northwest Area Water Supply project, which has contracted with Minot to supply the city's water to area communities until treated water from the Missouri River becomes available.

A pipeline constructed from Minot to Berthold last year is being extended to Carpio and Kenmare. Contractors finished laying pipeline between Carpio and Berthold and are working on the segment to Kenmare. Construction should finish by fall.

Work recently started near Kenmare on a 1-million-gallon storage tank to serve Kenmare and the system beyond that point.

Meanwhile, construction continues on a high-service pump station on the east side of 16th Street Southwest near the Minot Water Treatment Plant. The pump station is to be completed this fall.

According to information from the city, the pump station will have two pumps. One will serve the NAWS distribution system and the other will serve the Minot distribution system. The station will have a 2-million-gallon underground tank that will serve as a stilling basin for the treated water from the Minot plant. It is from this tank that the pump systems will deliver water.

The pump system serving Minot will replace 50- and 60-year-old systems in the existing treatment plant.

The service building associated with the pump system will be a brick building of nearly two stories.

NAWS will take bids to construct the Mohall/Antler water line this month. Construction could begin this fall with completion in 2010.

Engineering design has started on a 24-inch NAWS line from Minot to Minot Air Force Base. Bids could be taken this winter so construction could start in 2010. The design will include 13 miles of NAWS line going north of the base.

Negotiations between NAWS and the Air Force are ongoing to determine the base's payment toward the line. The existing, smaller line from Minot to the base will remain to provide a backup. The larger line also will carry water to communities beyond the base once NAWS completes its build-out.

Construction of any treatment facilities remains on hold pending the outcome of lawsuits. A federal court judge is reviewing results of an Environmental Impact Statement prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and finalized by the Department of the Interior last January. The EIS had supported a $17.5 million treatment system at Max that included ultraviolet and chemical disinfection. Additional treatment would occur at the Minot treatment plant.

The EIS addresses issues raised in a Manitoba lawsuit over potential transfer from organisms from the Missouri River Basin to the Hudson Bay Basin.

The judge will consider a second lawsuit filed by the state of Missouri after the EIS was published. The Missouri lawsuit claims that diverting the water for NAWS would harm the state's drinking water supplies, shipping and agricultural industries that rely on the Missouri River.

Because of a change of attorneys in the U.S. Justice Department on the NAWS lawsuit, the deadline for parties to submit information to the court was pushed back a month to Aug. 13. NAWS officials are hoping for a decision on the lawsuit by the end of this year.