The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development recently unveiled $91.7 million in public infrastructure loans and grants to support projects in 26 cities. The funding will replace nearly 1,000 lead service lines in 15 cities and back water treatment plants in Hastings and Maplewood, among other projects coordinated through the Minnesota Public Facilities Authority.
Maplewood
The largest subsidized loan went to St. Paul Regional Water Services, which received $28 million toward financing construction of the new $250 million McCarrons drinking water treatment plant that opened this year in Maplewood. The funds, which will be paid back over 20 years, also will be put toward final site work, including grading, paving and the installation of several stormwater ponds and the demolition of old, decommissioned infrastructure. The plant, which serves 14 cities in the east metro, is installing a new water quality testing lab in a building previously dedicated to flocculation, the process of getting particles to clump together for easier removal.
Hastings
The city of Hastings received $9.9 million in grants and loans toward construction of a new water treatment plant to remove chemical contaminants known as PFAS, as well as construction of a raw water transmission line to the plant. Work on the Central Water Treatment Plant began this year at 1290 North Frontage Road, which is next to the existing nitrate treatment plant and ground storage reservoir owned by the city. The plant, which will remove PFAS from Wells 3, 5 and 7, is expected to be fully online by mid-2027.
Stillwater
In Stillwater, a $1.2 million grant will be used to replace galvanized water services with new copper services, said Assistant City Administrator Shawn Sanders. The city has roughly 700 of those types of water services remaining, according to Sanders, and the grant will be used to replace about 100 of them. This is the second year Stillwater has received such a grant, he said.
Funding for the water-related projects primarily comes from MPFA’s Clean Water Revolving Fund and the Drinking Water Revolving Fund. Projects also are being backed by MPFA’s Point Source Implementation Grant program, Water Infrastructure Fund and Small Community Wastewater Treatment Program.
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