U.S. Water News Online
DICKINSON, N.D.-- Treated wastewater for sale.
For many, that sort of advertisement would at least raise eyebrows, if not inspire downright disgust. For the city of Dickinson and two farmers, it's the start of a beautiful friendship.
The story starts more than 40 years ago, when the city purchased land from a farmer to create a wastewater lagoon.
"I think a lot of it was more because (the city was) using the farmer's land and he was looking at a way he could use the water too, to offset some of the land he lost," said Skip Rapp, Dickinson's public works manager for wastewater.
From there, it only made sense for the city to get rid of its extra water by selling it to farmers interested in irrigation. Farmers who live near the Heart River have been signing contracts with the city since 1969.
"As the years have passed, we've looked at it as more of an environmentally friendly way to dispose of wastewater," Rapp said. "There is a cost benefit to us doing that stuff too, because we have a cost associated with discharging to the Heart River."
That doesn't mean the city isn't conscious of the water being put on farmers' crops.
"Most people don't realize, but places like Disney World and Disneyland and a lot of these big theme parks, they're recycling that water on a continuous basis, using it for drinking even," Rapp said. "Very little of that water gets discharged, it all gets reclaimed and reused."
Although most people would prefer not to look at it quite that way, the water that gets reused has been purified to the point that it meets Environmental Protection Agency standards and has been approved to be given to the masses.
The same is true in Dickinson. Not only must the EPA approve water discharged into the river, but it also must approve the water irrigating crops, whether the crops are for food or forage.
If the water being treated is too good for the river, the city cannot discharge it.
As recently as this past June, the city was unable to discharge its water because the quality was too high for the Heart River. Fortunately, Jay Schnell, a new farmer from Dickinson, used the city's water to irrigate his crops. In May, Schnell signed his first contract with the city to irrigate using treated wastewater.
"As our population grows, and we continue to prosper, that is going to be a big benefit," Rapp said. "We won't have to do a multimillion dollar upgrade."
Rapp said he encourages more farmers to use the water because it could save the city from purchasing more water storage space and upgrading its system.
"The level of ammonium in the water is a good source of fertilizer," Rapp said. "Very little of it actually ends up in the ground too, because the uptake of the plants will almost completely strip the ammonia off right away."
If farmers chose to irrigate on their own, they'd have the extra expense of paying for all the EPA tests the city is already required to do.
Schnell's grandfather and great-grandfather were cattlemen who looked to irrigate their forage crops with city wastewater.
"They could put as much on as they wanted and always have a crop," Schnell said. "Around here, that's important. You're guaranteed hay every year."
Over the years, his family members strayed slightly from their farming path, but after graduating from North Dakota State University with a degree in agriculture, Jay Schnell, 25, is ready to get back into the family business.
Schnell rented his family's old land back from Richard Schmidt, a farmer in Gladstone. Schnell has been working for the first time this season to get the irrigation pipes up and running. He expects to hit a few snags because the equipment he's using is 15 years old.
"Basically, with what Jay's going to do, it's going to eliminate one discharge that we're going to have to do on the Heart River," Rapp said. "He'll use 300 million gallons of water in all likelihood this year. He's looking at expanding up to 500 million, which will take pretty much 100 percent of the flow from Dickinson."
Schnell said he's learned more in the past three months in irrigating his own field than in his previous years of experience.
"Those first couple of weeks were a shot in the dark to me," Schnell said. "The city has been unbelievable. Right away, they made sure all the pumps were connected to the lagoonA couple of guys (from the city) were helping me set up."
He had to purchase an additional 2,000 feet of piping, and the central pivot, the easiest to manage of his irrigation equipment, is damaged and requires expensive parts to repair.
At times, Schnell said he should have been cutting hay, but instead he is fixing a faulty pipe.
"I'm on a very strict contract with the city that I actually can't have any water flow into the river," Schnell said. "It's very management intensive. I have to be there when the water's running."
Schnell has a long-term plan to use only organic material and get to the point where he doesn't have to use any commercial fertilizer on his fields.
With more than 30 years of experience irrigating land, Arnie Binek, a farmer and retired Dickinson teacher, agrees that managing the system is the hardest part, but by now he's used to it.
"My dad did irrigation 50 years ago when they built Patterson Lake," Binek said.
While it takes a lot of time, he said, it brings many benefits.
"The biggest thing is I've got water all the time; the city produces water all the time," Binek said.
Binek also has the responsibility to not spill wastewater runoff into the river, one reason he thinks few farmers get involved.
"You need the right kind of land," Binek said. "The land needs to be able to soak the water down in order to get a state permit. If the ground doesn't meet certain standards to leach down in there, they're not going to grant the permit."
He said he may be limited to the types of crops he grows.
"The water has nutrients that may not work for everything," Binek said. "What happens with the water from the city, because there's a lot of nitrates, it's not conducive to alfalfa."
Binek is sure Schnell will work out the kinks.
And as with everything as of late, the price of energy is a cause for concern. Still, he isn't griping, nor is Schnell. That advertisement for treated wastewater looked pretty good to them.
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