City Moves Forward with Documents to Formalize Mid Dakota Partnership

One week after a public meeting filled the Jerauld County Courthouse community room with Wessington Springs residents eager to learn more about the city’s future water source, the city council voted in favor of submitting documents for funding a regional water connection in lieu of building a new water plant.

The motion stated to “move to identify Mid Dakota Rural Water as the city’s potable water source and proceed in executing future documents to formalize the partnership.”

The vote, made by roll call was not unanimous. Vicki Harmdierks made the motion with a second from Tim Schooler. Natasha Waters and Kari Fagerhaug voted aye. Layton Schimke and Ryan Knipfer voted nay.

An application for grant funding and low interest loans will now be submitted to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) by April 1, with news about the level of grant funding received expected by June 2024.

The topic of water mains in need of repair throughout the municipality’s delivery system was also on the agenda. The council unanimously voted in approval of taking steps to put the replacement project of old mains on the State Water Plan. Projects that will require state funding assistance must be on the State Water Plan before grant applications can be submitted.

Future water source public meeting draws a crowd

A standing-room-only crowd of Wessington Springs residents gathered in the Jerauld County Courthouse Community Room to hear more about the future of the city’s water source on Monday, February 26.

Mayor Brian Bergeleen opened the meeting by explaining that the purpose of the meeting is to share months-long research and information to help solve the problem of providing the city “good quality water and looking for affordable cost.”

He then introduced representatives who would be participating in the discussion from Mid-Dakota Rural Water, Scott Gross, General Manager and Lennis Fagerhaug, Board Member; SPN & Associates Engineers Jeff McCormick and Camden Hofer; Planning and Development District III Development Specialist Brian McGinnis; Barrett & West Engineer Lyle Schumack.

McGinnis began the discussion with a financial perspective for the future of the city’s water.

“We’ve had lots of discussion the past few months and there are two distinct options: building a new water plant or hooking up to regional water provider Mid Dakota Rural Water. My perspective I provide to the city is grant funding, loan funding and making sure they get the best deal,” McGinnis said. “I get paid the same way — dues they pay annually to District III — no matter what they choose. Cost of the project they choose to do comes down to the amount of grants the city can get.”

McGinnis shared that the DANR has indicated that they are “significantly incentivizing going to rural water.”

McGinnis laid out the grant probabilities of moving forward with regionalizing the city’s water and hooking up to Mid Dakota or building a new municipal water plant. Both projects are estimated to be around $13 million.

“Funding for Mid Dakota will be around 70% grant where funding for the plant will be up to a 40% grant,” McGinnis said. “Based on those numbers, the debt service for rural water would be about $37.56 per user (household) per month and a new water plant would be about $70 per user (household) per month.”

Furthermore, McGinnis said that the Wessington Springs project is an important project for the state because of some issues — the manganese levels in the water — and can access another stream of money because of that.

“When you start talking about which direction you can go, just remember there is a pot of money sitting there right now and it’s not always going to be there,” said Barrett & West Engineer Lyle Schumack. “You’ve got an opportunity to get into this grant money. If you wait and go with USDA you might end up with a 20% grant.”

McGinnis explained that for a project of this size, there are two main funding options. DANR (state) or USDA Rural Development (federal).

“Right now, Wessington Springs is also eligible for up to 70% from Rural Development but you will never see that. You may be eligible, but won’t see it,” he explained, when asked why federal grant funds weren’t being more actively pursued.

Once McGinnis presented the financial picture of taking on either one of the large projects, the floor was opened to public Q&A.

Meeting opened up to public questions

A wide variety of topics were discussed during the meeting. Below are questions and answers grouped by topic.

Will the city replace the old water main distribution system?

During the meeting, several residents in attendance asked questions about replacing the remaining cast iron pipe that has been identified in the municipal water distribution system. As reported in previous True Dakotan articles about the city’s water, the approximate cost of replacing all of the the old cast iron infrastructure is approximately $2 million.

“Can we roll the pipes in the grant funding we are looking at? It doesn’t matter where we get the water if it’s still running through nasty pipes,” stated Stephanie Jungemann. “People in town want to know when the mains are going to be fixed. Nothing gets cheaper over time, the longer we wait, the more expensive it’s going to get.”

McGinnis said that yes, the infrastructure and the water source projects could be applied for together.

“I talked to my contact at DANR. They indicated that grant funding would be up to 70% to go to Mid Dakota. For the other improvements, the best case for grant funding is up to 40%.”

Kim Christensen echoed Jungemann’s question later in the meeting.

“What is the city’s plan for fixing the infrastructure? We’ve got cast iron pipe we need to fix before we get the good water.”

Mayor Brian Bergeleen answered, “We will peck away as we have done before. We are going to take care of some of the old cast in these next street projects on College and 2nd. We need to get some revenue to go toward that.”

Deb Fastnacht voiced her concerns about the cast iron pipes, “If we are going to buy water from Mid Dakota and not fix the pipes, then the water we purchase from Mid Dakota is going to leak out of the pipes. Those pipes are just rotten.”

Lynelle Schroeder also weighed in with a question, “What good does it do to have the clean water going through the rusty pipes?”

Larry Keeton, retired City of Wessington Springs employee with knowledge about the water plant and city infrastructure pointed out that the oldest pipes in town are between the two water tanks and replacing those are included in the project price to connect to Mid Dakota.

What will happen to the naturally occurring spring water?

Darlene Brodkorb asked, “Where will our spring water go if we’re not using it?”

“We don’t know exactly what will happen with the springs. What we do have for the project is to put drain tile from the south spring and direct it to the creek that runs through town,” said Jeff McCormick, SPN & Associates Engineer.

Brodkorb then asked if the rights for the city’s spring water would change if Wessington Springs went with the Mid Dakota option.

“The water rights would remain the city’s,” McCormick answered.

Who makes the determination for the project?

Tim Azure asked who is responsible for making the decision between building a water plant and connecting to Mid Dakota.

“Who would make determination for this? City council? A public vote?”

McGinnis answered, “It won’t be a public vote. The council is elected to make the tough decisions. You can’t put this decision to a public vote. If you don’t like what the council decides, you can do a referendum.”

Azure continued, “Can you tell us in laymen’s terms, what should we do?”

“We are showing the annual cost of building a plant slightly cheaper than the rural water option with an estimated $51,000 budgeted annually for asset replacement like filters, valves, pumps, controls and inspections,” explained McCormick. “You’re still seeing at least $12,000 setting aside a year for maintenance of tanks and the distribution of water system from the Mid Dakota hook up. When you start throwing in the difference of what you can get for grants though, it makes a significant difference to users.”

Will the Mid Dakota water still flow through the plant?

Several community member attendees asked in the case the city were to connect to Mid Dakota, would that water still run through the water plant.

“Mid Dakota water will not flow into the plant,” McCormick answered. “It would go into the tanks and then straight to your house.”

What is the tank cleaning and water testing protocol?

Meeting attendee Jason Zacher asked, “So rural water is just responsible for bringing water to the tanks. Who cleans the tanks?”

McCormick explained that the two water tanks are the city’s and it is inspected professionally and maintenance is done on a schedule by a contractor.

Zacher continued, “Are water samples taken around town?”

Keeton answered and explained that when he worked for the city, samples were taken throughout town. “We sampled different parts of town every other month,” he said.

Former City of Wessington Springs Water Superintendent Jim Vavra added, “Larry is right, we take samples — there are five places in town we go to. Some are on the low side and some are on the high side.”

Why did the quality of the city’s water decline?

Jesse Rogers asked about water quality, referencing days of yesteryear when Wessington Springs was known for its quality water.

“Where did we go wrong? We used to have the cleanest water in the state,” he asked. “What happened to our plant?'

“Why did the plant go down? I see this in municipalities across the state for decades,” said McGinnis. “Because no one wants to raise rates in order to make improvements.”

Wessington Springs residents and meeting attendees Eva Voorhess and Darrell Winters weighed in.

“Springs used to be the best water but that’s before the government told us what to put in it. We can’t play the blame game for the past 50 years,” commented Voorhees. “How many cases of water do you bring home week after week? How much do you pay for your water purification system? We as a community have to decide.”

“Our spring and well water is not the same as it used to be,” shared Winters. “Mid Dakota has thousands of customers and continually upgrades their purification system. With 400 something users we can’t afford to do the updates. I don’t know if I want to dump that on the next generation.”

What does the city pay in chemical and lime cost for the current plant?

“What does the city pay for chemicals, what does that run? If we put up a new plant we have to take a look at that,” said Dave Bender.

“The city budgets $40,000 for water plant purification. That’s for chemicals and lime,” answered City Finance Officer Linda Willman.

What is being done to improve water quality in the short term?

Barb Hine shared her concerns about the water quality on tap in the present moment.

“Whatever you guys decide, what are you doing in the interim between today and when we have a new plant or Mid Dakota?” Hine asked. “We want to make sure there are going to be steps taken to improve our water.'

“The city is taking care of items that need to happen to improve quality today. The city is cleaning the sand filter Wednesday and sludge valves are getting replaced,” explained McCormick. “Other items within the scope of the emergency repairs the city approved is in the process of being bid out.

E. coli found in south spring water source

During the meeting, Mayor Bergeleen read a letter from Mark S. Mayer, Director-DANR Office of Water, stating that E. coli had been found in the south spring source water last June.

He read from the beginning, “I am writing regarding the E. Coli positive samples collected from the south spring after the positive June 2023 routine sample. The presence of E. coli indicates that the south spring water is contaminated with fecal matter. A source that is tested positive for E. Coli is considered one of our most serious concerns due to the acute risk to health. To ensure public health is protected, a corrective action plan addressing both short term and long-term actions the city will be taking to address this issue must be submitted to DANR by March 15, 2024.”

The True Dakotan asked at the meeting and in an email to DANR why there was such a delay from the positive E. Coli sample in June 2023 to notification to the city in February 2024. At the meeting, Mayor Bergeleen indicated that it was a case of mishandled communication.

DANR sent the following response to the True Dakotan via email: “The City of Wessington Springs is required to collect one routine bacteriological sample per month from various locations throughout the distribution system. The sample collected on June 29, 2023, at one of the routine locations had total coliform present. Because total coliform was present, the regulations require sampling of the sources in use when the sample was collected. The north well and the south springs were in use on June 29, 2023 which is why follow up samples were collected. Verbal discussions with the City’s operator and consulting engineer took place multiple times between June and February and the existing disinfection system was reviewed to ensure adequate disinfection was being achieved. The intent of the February 9, 2024, letter was to establish a written deadline for submitting short and long term action plans and outline the regulatory requirement to document adequate disinfection levels daily. The letter indicates that the action plans must be submitted to DANR by March 15, 2024. To date, the department has not received the action plans but expects them to be submitted by the deadline.”

City of Wessington Springs Attorney Gary Blue said that upon receiving the letter in February, he discovered that a former employee had knowledge of the positive E.coli sample and did not notify the council.

“We know now that a former employee and our engineer were aware of it. In December they had indicated we would be receiving a letter but did not get any official notice from DANR until the February 9, 2024 letter,” Blue explained. “The fact that there was never a danger and the treatment process was taking care of it is most likely why it was handled the way it was.”

As the public meeting was wrapping up, Schumack left attendees with food for thought when it comes to long term water quality.

“You have to think, what is the viability of your water source? Are you sure it’s not going to be contaminated in 30 years? I’ve been doing this for over 40 years — what the EPA is doing for water regulations in the last three to four years is like they’re on steroids and you better consider what’s going to happen with government regulations and water sources,” said Schumack. “What happens if your water source isn’t viable — when you’ve already got E.coli at your source, its a shallow source, and you have all kinds of agriculture around. SPN’s report shows that the quality over the years is getting poorer and poorer and poorer.”

Mayor Bergeleen closed the meeting with a suggestion of how to move forward at the March 4 meeting.

“Let’s do the application process and see what we get for grant funding if we go with Mid Dakota,” suggested Bergeleen. “We’re not locked in if we don’t like what we get back from the state.”