Northwood, N.D., to upgrade infrastructure
Jun. 11—NORTHWOOD, N.D. — The city of Northwood will use a $7 million loan from the North Dakota Department of Environmental Quality to improve its sanitary sewer system and construct a storm sewer network across the city.
The grant is one of three loans the agency awarded this spring. The other two cities awarded loans are Davenport, N.D., and the North Prairie Regional Water District.
The city of Davenport received a $527,000 Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan, which will be used to demolish the underground storage reservoir, to construct a new reservoir with a pump lift station and to improve the drinking water distribution system.
North Prairie Water District will use its $3.825 million loan to replace 13.5 miles of transmission line from Logan, N.D., to Velva, N.D., and rehabilitate its booster station and increase storage capacity.
The city of Northwood hopes to ask for bids for its three-year infrastructure project in September, said Greg Boppre, office a civil engineer and vice president of Widseth. Boppre works in the Grand Forks office of the engineering, architectural, environmental and surveying company, which has offices in North Dakota and Minnesota.
During the project, the sanitary sewer system's main lift station, which has deteriorated, will be moved just west of its current location at the intersection of Park Street and Fifth Avenue, which is adjacent to Northwood Deaconess Health Center Nursing Home.
Storm sewers will be installed. The lack of storm sewers in Northwood results in ponding water, which has caused many streets to deteriorate, Boppre said.
The storm sewer project will include adding drain tile, catch basins and manholes.
Before the storm sewers can be installed and so the catch basin will have good drainage, many of the streets, curbs and gutters will need replacement, Boppre said. Catch basins will be placed on the low points of the regraded streets. Drain tile also will be installed as a base material during the street reconstruction.
The drain tile will help collect and eliminate water that may enter the base, thus improving the structural integrity of the road section, he said.
The water from the catch basins will be moved through a storm sewer pipe connected to the storm sewer mains through a new manhole. On the west side of town, the water eventually will collect in a storm sewer detention pond, and on the east side of town it will collect in a storm sewer lift station.
Without a storm sewer detention pond, the lift station would have to be larger so it could provide storm water storage during heavy rains. Another benefit of the detention pond is that it will improve the quality of the water, which will be pumped from the pond into the ditch on the south side of Northwood.
