RYDER People in the city of Ryder are caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to their city water supply.

On Monday, homeowners and businesses will vote whether to approve an ordinance that authorizes the city to contract with North Central Rural Water Consortium for the purchase of water for public distribution. The election will be held in the Ryder Fire Hall from noon to 7 p.m.

The city gets its water supply from a well near the town, but according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency's standard, the water has too much arsenic in it.

Whether the voters decide to contract with the water consortium or it gets voted down and the city has to look for another water source, any of the options would likely raise prices for water users.

Any of the ways

cost goes up

"The prices will be higher even if they put in a new water source or treatment. No matter what they do, potentially the costs go up," said Larry Thelen, Bismarck, administrator of the Drinking Water Program with the North Dakota Health Department's Division of Municipal Facilities.

He said if the city purchases the water through the consortium, the consortium will get a loan or grant money to pay for the cost of bringing the water to them but the community will have to pay it back. The amount of time for the pay back depends on how they work out the contract, he said.

Barb Folden, city auditor, said that currently the monthly bill for services in Ryder is $47 for water, sewer and garbage.

Thelen said the EPA set the new standard in 2001 for arsenic and it went into effect in about 2005. He said the new standard is 10 parts per billion. He said Ryder's water over the last four quarters has been running an annual average of 14.1 parts per billion.

He said the arsenic in the Ryder water is "naturally occurring in the soil and the water moves through it."

About 100 people homeowners and business representatives qualify as voters for the election, Folden said.

If voters

turn down contracting

If the voters in Ryder don't approve the ordinance to contract with the water consortium, the city will have to decide what else they might do, Thelen said. "They could look at a new water source, like a new well or they could look at treatment," he said.

Ryder has had a public water system for many years.

In recent years, the city spent nearly $10,000 for a new well that is located not far from the previous well.

Folden said the new 126-foot-deep well was dug in 2002 at a cost of $9,441.88 actual digging costing about $7,800 plus other costs involved.

If Ryder voters turn down the ordinance and do nothing, Thelan said, "We won't shut them down but will bring action against them, an administrative order, to make the changes or corrections."

Thelen said he was in Ryder about six to eight weeks ago for a public meeting to discuss the water situation.