Bismarck water treatment plant

[dean nelson]

So does anyone know why they are having such a hard time keeping up with use? Yeah sure it's been dry but it's not all that unusual to be causing this much problems. Didn't they just do a 12 million doller expansion on it a year ago? Is part of the system not up and running yet or something or is our system to small for our current growth rate?

 

[mills423]

Exactly my thoughts. The city spent how much on this system but yet the tanks are filled? If the river was low I could maybe understand but with 33,000 cfs coming down from Sakakawea it just doesn't make a ton of sense. I wish they would just be up front instead of blaming it on no rain. Its not like they didn't know that people were building homes in the northwest part of town.

 

[pluckem]

Might just be undersized for the peak it is seeing right now. People seem to be watering lawns 1-2 times per day. I don't think I turned on my sprinklers on until close to July last summer.

This was discussed some in the other thread but many have spent high $$ on their landscape and turf and people don't want to see it look like crap. Agree or disagree with spending that amount on a lawn, it seems pretty common.

 

[NDwalleyes]

I think they were taking lessons from the Corps and just didn't see the increased demand for lawn watering coming, failed to increase production, towers got sucked dry..... and que BS excuses.

I would hope the production capacity is there after all that work and this is a one-time issue. But, who are we to question the goverment?

 

[JayKay]

It's my understanding that there are a couple pieces of equipment that are still off-line. Part of the new expansion, and weren't slated for start-up until a later date. Due to demand, they're working to bring them on-line earlier than anticipated.

River is obviously plenty high. Plenty of water in the lake, and plenty more where THAT came from.

I said the other day, it's really too bad that we can't get non-potable water for things like watering the lawn.

 

[fly2cast]

I'm not exactly sure why the tanks are not filled up but it has nothing to do with the amount of water in the Missouri. The water comes from under the Missouri, not the river itself. The thinking is that the sand between the river bottom and the intake will make for a more reliable source of water. If I remember correctly though, since they started doing this they have had to treat the water differently because of the chemical makeup of the new water. This may or may not be a reason why they can't process the water faster.

 

[Wildyote]

I believe the reason for shortage is when water and turbid it takes longer to clean the water up with the dissolved solids in the water. On another note, water usage is at the highest point right now and seen several spots where the city was watering as I drove through town. I thought I heard that Bismarck started taking water below river bottom now through shallow wells instead of surface water. This would resolve turbidity issues would be resolved.

 

[dean nelson]

Bismarck has been using the UFO looking intake north of expressway for awhile now so turbidity shouldn't be a factor since that's dug in below the river like fly2cast said. Just seems weird to run out of water after an expansion was just completed unless like Jaykay said parts are still offline.

 

[Wildyote]

Bismarck has been using the UFO looking intake north of expressway for awhile now so turbidity shouldn't be a factor since that's dug in below the river like fly2cast said. Just seems weird to run out of water after an expansion was just completed unless like Jaykay said parts are still offline.

That's what I understand but what made me wonder is something was said on the news about dirty water. The shortage is due to all the people keeping their lawn green. Some people like to mow way more than I do.

 

[pointer]

Guys no matter what city you are in, they can only process so much water at an given point,the laws of supply and demand are in place, do any of you understand the demand in a drought situation? I think a city the size of Bismarck would use a stagggering amount of water each and every day, compound that with numerous amounts of people trying to save their lawn ect. no suprise that they cant keep up

 

[dean nelson]

Yes and that would be a relative point had they not just finished up a 12 million dollar expansion on a system that we never ran low on in the first place. They must have the game and fish working on it since to manage to upgrade a working facility and increased its size and now it makes not enough water to keep up. Sound the online apps for deer that were supposed to speed thing up but in the end slowed things down!

 

[Allen]

It's not a Water Treatment Plant issue, it's a delivery issue. The city has allowed more development in a given area than they maybe should have, and then add in a relatively small mechanical breakdown and now that section (NW corner) of the city's distribution system got in a bind.

Relax...you won't die if you don't have the greenest lawn in the desert.

 

[Sum1]

I thought green lawns were included in my white privilege packet?

 

[WhitetailOne]

Only if you have small penis/sparkly boat dreams .

 

[Allen Gamble]

I've mowed one time this year and it makes me happy.

 

[JayKay]

The "UFO lookin" structure behind the zoo is the head of a horizontal collector well. That structure goes down as far as the state capitol goes up. No lie. 200 ft deep. At that depth, there are "spokes" called Laterals, that go out horizontally in 360 degrees. They collect the water far below the river. Vertical turbine pumps pull the water upwards. The pump heads are in the UFO. The idea is that the water filters down through the sand, and where it's captured, is relatively clean.

The "new" treatment system actually uses a lesser process to treat the water than before, since the water is "cleaner" to begin with.

There is plenty of water, there is plenty of treatment capacity. There is just issue with getting the treated water to the water tower.

That, and as has been said, usage has spiked. Not JUST because Bismarck has grown rapidly, but also because (regardless of the high river) it hasn't rained.

 

[Bfishn]

It seems to me that NW Bismarck has outgrown the capacity of the one water tower, and during high usage it drains the tower too quickly. The other parts of the city didn't really have an issue, they are just asking people to conserve a bit. Watering three times a week isn't exactly asking for much "conservation"

 

[zoops]

Always surprises me how many houses have sprinkling systems. I grew up in GF in the 90s and I can't hardly remember seeing one. Granted different soil type, etc.

 

[Joe]

Every year I've been here, they've issued watering restrictions. Just be glad they don't also maintain the gas or power infrastructure, they would be totally blindsided on a 100 or -20 degree day.