Forks fights a new battle – for clean water
By Gerry Gilmour
The Forum
GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The tunnels of the Grand Forks water treatment plant have been power-washed and scrubbed clean.

The plant was inundated with Red River floodwaters April 18-19 when dikes gave way in Grand Forks.

"We’ll be getting it back soon," water plant superintendent Hazel Sletten said Thursday.

An hour later at the plant they opened a valve and sent a powerful surge of highly chlorinated water into the municipal water delivery system.

It was a big step on this community’s road to recovery.

Without water, the mess of the flood of 1997 cannot be washed away. Without safe, potable water, the 50,000 residents here can’t get their lives back to normal.

As of Thursday afternoon, Grand Forks remained a skeleton city surviving on bottled water. Its sewer and water system is one composed of strategically placed portable toilets and National Guard water buffalo tanks.

The water treatment plant – built in 1956 and expanded in 1984 – is located near the river on the south side of downtown Grand Forks, near the Point Bridge into East Grand Forks, Minn. It draws its water from the Red and Red Lake rivers, treating up to 16 million gallons of water daily.

Sletten called four plant workers back in late on April 18 and all night they fought with pumps to keep water from the plant, even when it was running 4 feet high on the street outside.

"At 6:30 Saturday morning it was bone dry," Sletten said. But the water kept rising and she and her workers eventually had to be hauled to safety by the National Guard and Coast Guard.

Water flooded treatment clear-well storage tanks, pumps, electrical equipment and storage areas.

They came back this Monday and went back to work.

Initial reports in the days after the worst of the flooding said the plant might not supply potable water for a month.

Charlie Vein was more optimistic than that Thursday.

The consulting engineer from Advanced Engineering of Grand Forks leads a team of 20 contractors working around the clock at the plant.

Water personnel from Des Moines, Iowa, which had its plant flooded by the Mississippi in 1993, are assisting by telephone.

Vein said the city is working with Grand Forks Air Force Base, East Grand Forks (which did not lose its plant to flooding), the University of North Dakota, the National Guard and U.S. Army Reserve and two rural water systems on temporary supplies.

Right now the entire water system is considered contaminated. Without positive pressure in lines, or no pressure, lines can be contaminated, Vein said, and must be flushed before potable water can be supplied to the city.

He said they’ll first isolate water mains and recharge the city’s five towers and an underground tower. By pumping water into streets, from fire hydrants, lines can be flushed, he said.

Water will be turned over several times in the clear wells, which have been cleaned, before water is delivered to homes, he said. The first water delivered will have a high amount of chlorine, he said.

The water will come on neighborhood by neighborhood. Initially it can be used for cleaning, showering and sanitary sewer use. It cannot be consumed or used in food preparation unless boiled first, he said.

The first areas will be brought on line today and this weekend.

The public will be informed when the North Dakota State Health Department declares it potable, he said. The water treatment plant has a certified laboratory on site.

The city is asking returning homeowners to shut down their water lines if they didn’t prior to evacuation.

"We’ll bring areas on slowly," Vein said. "I don’t want to bring people on line and then run out of water. Hopefully, we’ll be surprised and come on faster than we planned."