Equipment is at work on North Prairie Regional Water District’s pipeline replacement last summer between Logan and Velva. Photo courtesy of Interstate Engineering.

BURLINGTON – North Prairie Regional Water District plans to bring on a new water supply source at the end of 2023 to expand its ability to serve customers on the western end of its district.

The expansion is one of three major projects going on this year, according to Wade Senger, principal engineer with Interstate Engineering, who spoke at North Prairie’s annual meeting Monday in Burlington.

Other projects are the U.S. Highway 52 watermain replacement and a water filling station south of Minot.

The Mountrail Phase 2 and 3 project that is occurring in eastern Mountrail County and western Ward County proposes a purchase of water from the City of Parshall to service about 150 existing customers and 150 new customers. The new customers would be in the triangle from Parshall to Plaza to Berthold, Senger said.

Existing customers could see the new water source by the end of this year, while new customers would come onto the system next year, he said.

Currently, the area is served by North Prairie’s Voltaire treatment plant, and water must pass through about five booster stations from the Souris River Valley across the continental divide.

“You can imagine the amount of energy and input cost to be able to do that,” Senger said. “The solution that we came up with, partnering with the City of Parshall, is to purchase water from them to be able to have a more efficient system and allow for future growth in that region.”

North Prairie completed construction of a transmission line between Parshall and Plaza last year at a cost of about $1.5 million. Additional water supply and booster station costs are projected at $5.15 million.

Current efforts include acquiring right of way to distribute the water out to residents and finalizing paperwork with the state Department of Environmental Quality to obtain the new water supply.

The City of Parshall has two water plants using membrane filtration – one built in the 1980s and the other in 2012. It also has a 500,000-gallon storage tank.

Currently the system serves 350 residential connections, said City Auditor Kelly Woessner.

“We have lots of room for expansion,” she said. One plant can produce 100 gallons a minute and the other 1,000 gallons a minute, she said.

The partnership with North Prairie will provide some revenue for the city.

“We are not really in it to make money. We are in it to help supply people with good, potable water,” Woessner said. Parshall’s water source is the Missouri River.

The Parshall water supply would add to North Prairie’s existing water supply that comes from the City of Minot’s treatment plant and its treatment plant at Voltaire. Each source will continue to independently serve a separate system of customers.

The Highway 52 project involves replacing pipeline between Logan and Velva that had been installed in the early 1970s and accounts for about 75% of North Prairie’s leaks, Senger said.

“That original pipe is really tired and causing a lot of issues,” he said. “It’s very brittle and getting old and needs to be replaced.

Last year 13 miles of transmission line between Velva and Logan were installed and final work will be completed this spring and summer. The cost of the improvement is estimated at $3.9 million.

“Another portion of this project is going to be making upgrades to some of the booster stations in that area. The electrical components in those booster stations are very old. The one in the Velva station is original to the system so getting replacement parts for that’s getting troublesome. Being able to get new equipment in there is key right now,” Senger said. That part of the project has an estimated cost of $1 million.

Another piece of the Highway 52 project is adding water storage at Logan to accommodate residential growth in the area.

“Having that additional storage there in Logan will help set North Prairie up for future build,” Senger said.

North Prairie also expects to spend about $800,000 this year to replace about five miles of distribution pipe north of Velva that has had issues.

A water filling station estimated to cost $75,000 is planned at North Prairie’s water storage tower south of Minot along U.S. Highway 83. The goal is to have the station, which will operate much like filling up at a gas pump, available for use this spring.

“We’ve got all the infrastructure in place so farmers and other big water users that want to get water quickly, they can get it right off the highway,” Senger said.