City answers call for public water meeting

Residents’ concerns about Brandon’s water supply have convinced the city to hold a public meeting, tentatively set for the end of the month. 

Tim Wakefield, an engineer who lives in Brandon, put in the request at the city council’s Sept. 5 meeting. He also asked city leaders to “put an immediate hold on all water improvement and expansion projects until a defined plan can be presented to the public in an open forum.”

On July 17 Brandon enacted a citywide ban on watering lawns after the level in the city’s water tower fell to 110,000 gallons – too low to put out a major structure fire.

At last week’s council meeting Wakefield said he was voicing concerns on behalf of several residents as to whether the city was considering alternative options for its water supply – specifically, the Lewis & Clark Rural Water System. 

City leaders have stated that L&C was not a viable option for Brandon due to its water supply underground. The city sources water from a reservoir and a well. 

“The Lewis & Clark discussion closed for the city of Brandon in 1993,” said city administrator Bryan Read. 

In 1993 the city council considered an agreement for 250,000 gallons of water a day. The motion failed, with one alderman voting in favor and four voting against. 

Troy Larson is executive director of Lewis & Clark.

“The only way L&C could provide water to Brandon would be on non-guaranteed, as-available basis,” Larson said last week.

L&C has 20 members across the tri-state area. While joining L&C has not been an option in years, Larson said, Brandon could purchase L&C water through one of its members, Minnehaha Community Water Corp (MCWC).  

“A number of our connected members are selling water to neighboring cities and rural water systems, so hopefully even though there is no way for Brandon to ever have a guaranteed source of water directly from L&C, the city can have the next best thing by connecting to MCWC,” Larson said. 

Read said the city had been in touch with MCWC.

“We’re reviewing that as an option,” he said. 

Scott Buss is executive director of MCWC, which has pipeline running along the west side of Brandon near the Bluffs residential development, a line north of the Corson industrial park and a line along Sioux Boulevard. 

“We don’t have the ability to supply Brandon’s long-term needs – that 20-year plan and estimate of 3 million gallons a day – but we do have the ability to help with short-term needs,” Buss said. 

Brandon’s costs to purchase water from MCWC and when the city could connect depends on how much water the city needs, Buss said, and at what pressure. 

Even if Brandon purchased water from MCWC, Read said, doing so wouldn’t solve the city’s main water problem: its lack of elevated storage. 

“There’re too many interrelated things there,” Read said. “It could give us another water source. But just because we have a water source does not alleviate our elevated storage issue.”

In the peak summer months, Brandon needs 1.8 to 2 million gallons of water in its tower. However, the tower only holds 250,000 gallons.

“You should have a day’s worth of elevated storage,” Read said.

The city plans to build two new water towers at an estimated $8 million. The west tower will be located at Six Mile Road and Holly Boulevard., and land earmarked for the east tower is just north of Chestnut and Redwood boulevards. Each tower would hold 1.25 million gallons of water and replace the current tower. The city is currently negotiating the land purchases, Read said, and construction on the towers is still a year away or more. 

The city also plans to drill another well, well No. 8, just north of its primary well at Aspen Park, and will double its water treatment facility in the next four to seven years at an estimated $10 million. 

The city currently sources its water from an in-ground storage facility north of the treatment plant in Aspen Park and its primary well, known as No. 6. The reservoir holds 500,000 gallons of water, and the well produces 1,400 gallons a minute. 

A pipeline already connects well No. 7 to the water treatment plant at Aspen Park. Well No. 7 will become another source for the city once renovations are complete at the plant to remove radium from the well water. That project is scheduled for completion Oct. 17. 

Wakefield questioned whether the city knew well No. 7 contained radium before the line was put in. 

“We knew there was radium in there,” Read said.

A connection to MCWC would provide Brandon with fully-treated, soft water, which L&C is known for.

According to Larson, it’s that high quality of water that led Minnesota company Tru Shrimp to choose Luverne, Minn., to build its first production facility and the world’s first shrimp harbor. The announcement came in June. 

Several cities in the area reportedly vied for Tru Shrimp’s business, but Read said Brandon wasn’t one of them. 

Wakefield also questioned the city’s ability to put out fires at the Sept. 5 city council meeting. A former volunteer firefighter, he said he had researched water flow and pressure in some areas of Brandon and found the levels were below ISO standards to put out fires. 

“It’s possible,” Read said. “That’s why we need the elevated storage.” 

After the July 21 ban cut water usage in half, the city council revisited the resolution. Residents are now following a permanent, every-other-day watering schedule. 

The date, time and location of the public water meeting will be shared with local newspapers for publication. Brandon residents can also sign up to get city alerts via email on the city’s website.

“I think it’s always important to get information out to the public if there are misperceptions out there,” Read said. 

He said there is no misinformation the city wants to clear up at this point. 

“Not on our part,” Read said.