The state Board of Water and Natural Resources has approved a $36.85-million loan for Pierre to build its new drinking water treatment plant.
The loan will be used to develop a new surface water supply intake and build a centralized drinking water treatment plant.
Pierre’s water supply currently comes from a series of wells that have high manganese, hardness, sulfate and total dissolved solids concentrations. To remedy these issues, the city plans to switch water sources to Missouri River water and build a new drinking water treatment plant. The loan will allow the city to develop a new water intake on the Missouri River, build a raw water pump station, transmission pipe, a new eight million gallon per day ultrafiltration treatment plant and a transmission pipe to connect into the existing Pierre water distribution system.
This past June, 73 percent of the people voting in Pierre supported building the almost $37 million water treatment facility. The design phase is expected to take about a year. City officials expect to have the project completed and the treated water flowing in 2021.
In total, the state Board of Water and Natural Resources has approved more than $44.4 million for water, wastewater, recycling and solid waste projects. Among the other recipients are:
- Chamberlain– $300,000 loan for water meter replacement
- Tri-county Landfill Association in Pukwana– $600,000 to purchase a landfill compactor, which includes a $300,000 grant and $300,000 loan
- Tulare– a $1,395-million loan, with $1,145-million in principal forgiveness, for water system improvements
The State of South Dakota and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fund the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Program, which provides low-interest loans for drinking water projects.
