Minnesota opens $28m wastewater treatment plant

Central Iron Range Sanitary Sewer District (CIRSSD) Board in Minnesota, US, has commissioned a $28m wastewater treatment facility near Chisholm.

Besides Chisholm, the facility will serve three more towns in the Iron Range area, including Buhl, Kinney and the Town of Great Scott.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton said: "This new facility will allow these communities to treat five times more wastewater than the previous infrastructure allowed."

Construction of the plant started in 2011 and has been funded through the 2005 bonding bill, which had initially granted $1.7m for the design and pre-design of the project.

Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (PFA) had granted $12m for the project, along with a low-interest loan of $8.1m. Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB) also contributed $5.5m for the treatment plant in the form of construction grants.

DFL Chisholm Senator David Tomassoni said: "This has been a long-time coming; it’s been about an eight-year project and it’s a result of some of the wastewater treatment plants becoming inadequate and falling apart."