Fort Pierre gets new water today

By David Montgomery
Capital Journal staff
Published/Last Modified on Monday, Feb 08, 2010 - 12:21:36 am CST

FORT PIERRE — Fort Pierre residents are about to finally get a taste of what they voted for.

City workers plan to turn on taps to West River/Lyman-Jones rural water Monday, bringing treated water to Fort Pierre residents five months after the Fort Pierre City Council initially approved the move.

The city of Fort Pierre previously got its water from wells, which contained high levels of iron and manganese.

Rural water goes through a more rigorous treatment process at the Mni Wiconi plant north of Fort Pierre.

Though the rural water will be turned on Monday, city officials said it may take some time for the well water to be flushed from the water system.

If tap water is cloudy, residents should let the faucet run until it clears, officials said.

The switch to rural water has been delayed several times. Opponents of the deal and higher costs involved referred the rural water deal to a popular vote on Nov. 17. But Fort Pierre residents supported the deal 351-210.

The need for a permit from the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources caused a delay until late January. Then, the federal Bureau of Reclamation asked for another delay to assure other Mni Wiconi customers that Fort Pierre wouldn’t threaten their water supply.

Fort Pierre signed a three-year trial deal with West River/Lyman-Jones Rural Water Systems.

Due to the higher cost of rural water, Fort Pierre raised its water rates. City officials said typical consumers would have faced a $3 per month increase in water bills without the rural water deal. The cost of rural water added another $11 per month to typical bills, around a 45 percent increase.

The higher rates took effect Jan. 1.

Fort Pierre Mayor Sam Tidball said residents should be patient during the transition to rural water, and said residents should call the city if they have problems.

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Comments

1 comment(s)

Jones Co Resident wrote on Feb 8, 2010 6:54 PM:

" You will like the rural water but hopefully the water treatment plant got some decent management in the past couple months so Fort Pierre doesn't run out of water like we down here. It seems the staff at the plant in Ft. Pirre forget to run the plant some nites causing all the reservoirs between the plant and Murdo to run out of water. West River Lyman Jones does a good job but the OST employees don't. I hope you guys in Ft. Pierre don't cause us to run out of water more often. GoodLuck. "

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