The City of Pierre has received its marching orders from Pierre voters; a water treatment facility will be built.
On the June 5 primary ballot, voters living in Pierre were asked if the City of Pierre should spend more than $37-million to provide treated water. Of those who went to the polls, the majority thought the City should build a water treatment facility.
“I believe this is a very good project for Pierre,” said Pierre Mayor Steve Harding. “This is a quality-of-life improvement that will serve our community for generations.”
The City of Pierre began looking into treated water options following a community survey. The survey results showed the majority of respondents thought the City should consider constructing a water treatment facility to combat the high mineral content found in Pierre’s current water supply.
A study of Pierre’s water system was completed and resulted in a recommendation to build a water treatment facility near the Missouri River highway bridge. In February, the Pierre City Commission voted to put the project to a public vote.
Brad Palmer says that the City is poised to move forward with the project almost immediately.
“We’ll get started on the facility design here in the next couple of weeks,” said Palmer. “The design phase is expected to take about a year, and we expect to have the project completed and the treated water flowing in 2021.”
According to estimates provided by Pierre Municipal Utilities, the facility will add an average of $1 a day to residential municipal water accounts.
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