Digging and Building Keeps Local Water Tasting Right

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It may be as simple as turning on your tap, but it’s not so simple to get it to taste right.

This is the Fargo City Water Treatment Plant’s first major expansion since it was built in 1997.

Workers are busy drilling, digging, and building all they can before the winter weather hits.

“They’re drilling about 90 something feet into the ground. They’re injecting concrete and that’s what the building will actually sit on,” says Water Utility Director Troy Hall.

The plant gets water from two sources: the Red and Sheyenne Rivers.

The water treatment plant is expanding to keep up with the newest filtering technology.

The new technology is working to remove excess salts benefiting your water at home.

“People would think you’re expanding the water plant because you need to be able to produce more water. But that’s not the primary reason that we’re expanding the plant. It really is being driven out of a water quality issue,” says Fargo’s Interim City Administrator Bruce Grubb. 

It’s a project that will increase the plant’s capacity from 30 million gallons a day to 45 million, but you won’t have to sacrifice taste for change.

“We wanted to maintain the same quality of water that Fargo residents have been used to,” Grubb said.

“This is the biggest project I’ve worked on,” Hall said. 

Water treatment employees hope the upgrades will help keep tasty water flowing throughout the area.

Hall says they expect to complete the project by the middle of 2018.