MAX – One of the key components to the Northwest Area Water Supply project is a pumping station immediately east of this community.
Nearly all the exterior construction on the station was completed by late fall. Some of the roofing was delayed due to cold temperatures but work is continuing at the site throughout the winter.
“The doors and windows haven’t been delivered yet and are still covered with poly, but they’ve been going pretty good on the interior,” said Tim Freije, Department of Wate Resources NAWS project manager. “More equipment seems to show up every day. We’re making progress. It may look the same as it did a couple of months ago but, inside, it is definitely progressing.”
A fall of 2023 completion date is anticipated. However, when the facility comes online depends on when raw water is pumped north from the Snake Creek Pumping Plant. It is there that a lot of work remains to be done.
“We need to remove the existing pump in Unit No. 1. We’re opening bids January 18 for installing all the equipment we are procuring,” said Freije. “We still need to put piping in Snake Creek and along the embankment and install pumps to serve the water that we’ll need.”
The pumps will push the water to the Max facility for initial treatment. From there the water will be pumped north and flow to Minot.
“In Minot it will be treated to drinking water standards and distributed around north-central North Dakota,” explained Freije.
As has been the case for many construction projects since COVID related closures, the NAWS project has been affected by delays, particularly in acquiring the necessary equipment to complete the project.
“Much more so than it was five or ten years ago. It adds cost and time to building anything,” said Freije.
There are a number of agencies involved in the project and a variety of permits to be approved, such as one from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before work on the Snake Creek embankment can proceed.
“There’s additional requirement that we are working through,” said Freije. “There’s a lot of moving pieces and we’re moving on pretty much all of them right now.”
