Moorhead’s plan to improve water coming from the Red River

MOORHEAD, Minn. (KVRR) – The Moorhead Public Service is holding public comments about their surface water intake protection plan for the Red River of the North. The plan was worked on by MPS and the Minnesota Dept. of Health with the goal to educate, monitor and protect the quality of water for residents.

“This plan is intended and designed to either mitigate or reduce the level of different types of contaminants that can potentially get into the Red River of the North,” said Marc Pritchard, the water plant manager. “We are looking at it from a drinking water perspective so we are looking for things like nutrient loading, turbidity, total hardness, things that we have to remove at the water treatment plant to bring the raw water from the river up to drinking water standards.”

The river is vital for the area. The Red River provides 75 to 80% of the water used by residents according to MPS. While the rest is made up by the Moorhead and the Buffalo aquifers. Local experts say taking the quality and protection of water seriously is of importance.

“Obviously, the clean water is very important whether we’re cooking or bathing. There can be things in the water without proper treatment or taking care ahead of time,” said Kent Severson of Clay County Environmental Health. “Talking about what might be a heavy metal or something like that, that is in the water as oppose to biological or bacteria so obviously knowing some more about the water you are drinking is very important.”

The commissioners that are meeting about this plan later this month are set to approve it. The plan is to hold public comment through June 27.