The Lake City Council has finalized an agreement with the City of Lanesboro to move forward with plans for Lake City to provide water to the smaller community. Lanesboro was forced to pursue other supply options when high levels of iron, manganese and arsenic were discovered in their system and building an entirely new one was found to be cost prohibitive. Instead, they contracted ISG Engineering to design an eight-mile water main that will connect Lanesboro to Lake City’s system. Administrator, Eric Wood, says the two councils needed to work quickly to get the agreement approved.
Wood says it is a relatively simple arrangement.
ISG Engineer, Amanda Goodenow, says the project is expected to proceed quickly now that formal agreements are in place.
Early cost estimates for the project came in between $2.5 and $3.5 million. Goodenow says the current economic environment has made it difficult to provide more specific figures.
According to Goodenow, rented treatment equipment keeps Lanesboro’s system operational, but not enough to make the water safe to drink. Customers there have been under a bottled water advisory for the past several months. Construction is expected to begin later this year with the main operational by fall of 2022.
