By Caroline Downs

The key to good water in Kenmare just might be found in a white camper trailer with Minnesota plates parked next to the city’s cistern.

Jerry Larsen, president of Larsco, Inc. of Anoka, Minnesota, and his son Eric, sales and service technician with Larsco, arrived in town Thursday to begin a pilot study of Kenmare’s water. The city approved their services at a cost of $14,500 during the August and September city council meetings, to begin the process of complying with federal regulations for arsenic levels.

As of January 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency required all municipal water systems to have arsenic levels of 10 parts per billion (ppb) or lower. A November test of Kenmare’s water by the Fargo-Cass Public Health Environmental Lab showed two wells with an arsenic level of 13.2 ppb and one well with 12.4 ppb.

No cost estimates for a full scale water treatment plant will be available until after the pilot study, according to city engineer Ryan Ackerman. "We’ll use the results of the pilot study to design the system," he said, adding that a preliminary engineering report could be ready as early as March 1st.

The Larsens set up shop last week with a 20-foot trailer outfitted with a heater, two waist-level countertops to hold notebooks and small equipment, a couple of webbed lawn chairs for seating, and a skid-mounted replica of a full-blown treatment plant that filled most of the space. "We can put up to 30 gallons a minute through this," Jerry said.

Dale Hanson, water superintendent for the city of Kenmare, said Wells 2 and 3 had been prepared for the Larsens’ arrival. "These wells fill our reservoir," Hanson explained. "Out of these wells, we partially treat the water with chlorine and polyphosphate."

For the pilot study, the Larsens needed access to raw water from the wells, beginning with Well 3. "We use our own chlorine and other chemicals," said Eric.

"We’ve already run it through the iron-manganese system removal," Jerry said, adding that the reverse osmosis (RO) system would be tested next. "That’s going to get the color out, drop the sodium content, drop the sulfate content and control the arsenic level. You’ll have a better flavor, and it will be more eye-appealing."

He continued, "We will virtually be adding less chemical than you’re adding now. We’re trying all avenues to keep the cost of a treatment plant down. Then we’ll run the same tests off Well 2."

The pair hoped to have water samples from Well 3 ready after the weekend. Jerry explained that water completely filtered through an RO system has an extremely bland taste. To avoid that, between 50 and 75 percent of the treated water from Kenmare’s wells would be put through the RO system, then mixed with treated water that did not go through the RO filters.

That blended water will be made available to the public for viewing and tasting. "We’re trying to make the water healthier," Jerry said. "People on a low-sodium diet probably already have their own RO systems in their houses, but those are costly and they need to be maintained. We’re trying to make good water available for everybody."

Kenmare residents may be most concerned about the new water’s taste and color. The Larsens encouraged the public to review their efforts, especially given the cost of the pilot study and the expense of a water treatment plant.

"I know it’s money spent up front, but it’s money spent wisely," Jerry said. "The reason pilot studies are performed is to make certain the quality of the water you get from the pilot study will duplicate what you’ll get in a full-blown system."

If the city of Kenmare adopts the Larsens’ recommendations, Jerry and Eric will return to town for the construction and start-up phases. "We will have all the test results back," Jerry said. "The municipality, the engineers and the manufacturers will all know this is going to work because we’ve tested it."

Larsco, Inc. does not produce the plant components directly, but the Larsens do work with the project’s contractors. "When the equipment is delivered, we come out here to do inventory," Jerry said.

"Once everything is installed, we come back here to do a start up," Eric said. He explained the touch screen control panel and automated systems of a full-scale plant were designed to be operator-friendly, and that the auto-dial component would even alert Hanson at home if some problem activated one of the system’s alarms.

The Larsens would train Hanson to operate the plant. "When the plant is being built, you will spend time watching them build," Jerry told him. "Then during the start-up, when we do things, we show you how to do things. Even when we’re gone, we have a toll-free number."

The father and son team, with a second son back in Minnesota, make up Larsco, Inc. Jerry has 36 years of experience in water treatment, including the 16 years of Larsco’s operation.

Today, the company covers a territory encompassing all of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and portions of Iowa and Wisconsin. "We have 31 or 32 installations, ranging from 100 gallons per minute to 10,500 gallons per minute," Jerry said.

The business handles seven installations in North Dakota, including water treatment plants in Burlington, Rolla and a new unit in Velva that went into operation just before Christmas.

Photos of various Larsco water treatment plants and other information about the company are available online at www.larscoinc.com.

See it, taste it for yourself
Water from the pilot study can been seen and tasted this week at the Memorial Hall in Kenmare, where dispensers have been filled with regular tap water, chemically treated water, and filtered RO water. "We’d like the public to come in, sample the water and give us their opinion," said Mary Brekhus, city auditor.

"We can treat the arsenic," Ackerman added, "but we’re also giving the public the opportunity to taste the water that’s gone through the reverse osmosis filtration. The iron-manganese treatment will remove the arsenic, but it may not be addressing the aesthetic qualities people associate with treated water, like taste, color and smell."

The city council will make a determination about purchasing and paying for a water treatment plant following the pilot study and the responses they hear from Kenmare’s residents.

Like Brekhus, Hanson was looking forward to the water samples to see the true impact of the treatment options. He also hoped Kenmare residents would stop by the Memorial Hall to try the treated water for themselves.

"I think the public has got to see it and test it," he said.