The City of Pipestone needed to address the high levels of chlorides, salty water parameters, and dissolved solids found in the treated wastewater to meet new discharge permit levels. The most economical choice was centralized lime/soda ash municipal water softening to reduce salt from ion exchange softeners in the community. Pipestone’s water treatment facility was vintage. Its building and adjacent water tower are on the state historical register, making updating difficult and cost prohibitive.

Bolton & Menk worked with the city to develop a comprehensive plan and upgrade the water supply and treatment system. We worked with the city to develop plans for construction and helped access funding through the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (PFA) and a Point Source Implementation Grant (PSIG).

With a construction timeline of 24 months, the new water treatment facility was completed in summer 2019 on time and within budget. The new facility provides a long-term investment in the community reducing the need for ion exchange softening. Bolton & Menk worked with the community to get softeners adjusted and educate residents and businesses on proper optimization of their ion exchange softeners, ultimately meeting the city’s NPDES discharge permit for salty water parameters.