Turtle Mountain and Spirit Lake receive federal funding for water infrastructure projects

BISMARCK — The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has awarded more than $32 million to North Dakota tribal nations for water infrastructure projects, according to a press release from Sen. Kevin Cramer’s office.

The funding was provided by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“North Dakota’s tribal nations need updated water infrastructure to meet the vital needs of their communities,” said Cramer, R-N.D. “These awards will modernize aging systems and protect the delivery of clean, reliable water across the state.”

Turtle Mountain Public Utility Commission received the following funding: $11,482,871 for meeting the need for upgraded raw water collection lines to improve the water supply infrastructure; $10,831,393 for replacing aging 200 class polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with newer 250 class PVC; $5,029,945 for replacing glued PVC pipe with gasketed PVC pipe; $530,496 for replacing the water main at Reservoir C; and $407,950 for replacing the water main at Reservoir C East, the release said.

Spirit Lake also received some funding, including $755,789 to Spirit Lake Rural Water for a project that will eliminate a bottleneck restricting water flow to areas of Fort Totten, $169,229 to replace the pneumatic valves in the Spirit Lake Rural Water Treatment Plant and $275,268 to remove and replace water filter media in the Spirit Lake Rural Water Treatment Plant’s Tonka Tank, the release said.

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