Ground was broken this week for the first phase of the Minot flood control project.
It’s a flood wall to protect the city’s water treatment plant.
"It will provide flood protection to probably the most critical piece of infrastructure we have in Minot," said Minot public works director Dan Jonasson. "Our water treatment plant, and the NAWS (Northwestern Area Water Supply) high service pump station, which pumps water to the rest of the NAWS system."
Jonasson says in the flood of 2011, the water treatment plant was disabled, meaning Minot residents had to boil their water for several days.
Jonasson says this is a very important step for the flood control project.
"The water plant is critical," said Jonasson. "And by having this in place, it's one piece of infrastructure that we won't have to concentrate on when we provide emergency protections in the future."
The cost of the project is $29 million. Jonasson says it should be completed by 2017.