Council approves agreement with SMSC for water main construction

Prior Lake American

Prior Lake and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community will work together to put in a raw water main along County Road 82 to meet both communities’ needs following a Prior Lake City Council vote Monday.

The construction of the water main was part of a joint agreement between the community and the city that was approved in November 2017 for the construction of a shared water treatment facility near Spring Lake Regional Park. The facility is expected to be complete in late 2019.

As part of the agreement, the city would be responsible for constructing a water main from the facility to Well No. 6 near The Wilds. The well, which is not connected to the city’s water treatment plant, is currently only used when the city’s water demands exceed what it can produce, and the water is not treated for iron and manganese.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community currently is constructing utility improvements along County Road 82 nearby, including putting in sanitary sewer lines and a water main.

The joint utility project would be complete at the end of 2018. The raw water main would be put in from the water treatment facility to Bobcat Trail. The city expects to finish the remaining portion of the raw water main from Bobcat Trail to Well No. 6 in August 2019.

Prior Lake’s 2019 Capital Improvement Plan includes $1.3 million for constructing the raw water main, meaning the city would not be able to reimburse the Mdewakanton community for construction costs until next year. City Engineer Jason Wedel said the community understood and agreed to that point.

The cost for the first portion of the raw water main would be more than $723,000, leaving nearly $577,000 of the budget for the remaining construction.

Wedel during the meeting said he didn’t have an exact number for what would be saved by partnering with the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, but it would be cost-effective now to put multiple pipes in what the community has dug up already. Money would be saved in the future by not having to dig around the utilities the community put in, he added.

The council also approved an agreement for more than $65,000 to have WSB & Associates design the raw water main. As a result of the project being done in 2018, the city’s two engineering technicians are tied up with inspecting 2018 reconstruction projects and are unavailable to work on the raw water main design.

“Portions of the work could be removed from the contract and performed by City Staff if time is available,” according to the council memo regarding the agreement.

The funding will come from the city’s trunk water fund.