There was a good break in the hot and humid weather this summer to allow for a just about perfect outdoor event in Silver Bay the morning of July 7th. The campground at Black Beach was bustling with tourists, flocking to spend their time (and money) in the region while enjoying everything the area has to offer. Just around the bend, another, more local group gathered to hold the groundbreaking ceremony for the start of Silver Bay’s Water Treatment Facility Upgrade and New Booster Station project.
Silver Bay Mayor Wade LeBlanc began the event by thanking attendees and all involved in the task of improving the City’s water supply. “You don’t realize how many people it takes to put a project like this together.”
The $15.5 million project to help update the City’s water infrastructure includes replacing pumps, storing chemicals, improving chlorine contact time, replacing key building components, and much more. Perhaps most importantly, it will reduce Silver Bay’s dangerously high water pressure, which has already caused extensive and expensive damage around town and left crews racing to stop the surprise bursts from broken valves as quickly as possible.
Water pressure is measured as PSI, or pounds per square inch, the amount of force the water is exerting as it travels through a water system. City Administrator Lana Fralich gave a quick rundown comparing an average water PSI of about 70 to Silver Bay’s, currently around 230 PSI. The difference between a teen and a grown man’s weight pushing against pipes is exacerbated by the City’s utilities “being so old, a lot of the components are starting to go,” Fralich explained. “And when those things go, it’s not just a trickle of water. It’s a geyser.”
Improvements to the Water Treatment Facility are planned to halve the current PSI to around 115, still above the ideal range but far less of a strain on the water system and safer for workers to deal with if there is a problem. This will be in addition to the ongoing extensive updates throughout Silver Bay to the water lines as well as the replacement of several emergency water valves thanks to state bonds.
City Administrator Fralich acknowledged that being a small community means fewer resources for help, but thanks to a concerted effort by the city and aid at local and state levels, they have had a good amount of success in the past eight years gaining funding for improvements to the City’s water, sewer, storm sewer, and streets. The Wastewater Treatment Facility has been upgraded to a modern system with great success, and the first phase of the City-wide Improvement Project has just recently begun with aid from Lake County, making the Water Treatment Facility improvements and new booster station just another notch on the belt. “We have a very strong community investment in our infrastructure,” Fralich said, thanking Lake County, staff from MnDOT (Minnesota Department of Transportation) and the Minnesota Department of Health for their guidance in these improvement projects.
Several political representatives were in attendance, including Congressman Pete Stauber, who spoke on hockey and supporting Silver Bay’s project because he knew it “was going to get done.” He also appreciated the necessity of the resource for the town. “Clean water is a big part of our communities,” he stated. “We have to protect it.” He followed up on Fralich’s thanks by acknowledging all the support going into the project on a local and state level, saying “it’s important we recognize we’re doing this together.”
Senator Amy Klobuchar was unable to attend but sent an aide to share her statement, thanking Silver Bay for its work on improvements and saying she would “continue fighting to secure funding for infrastructure projects that benefit local communities across the state.”
The project was funded in part with $1.75 million from federal congressional direct spending, which saw Silver Bay competing on a national level to prove their project worthy of being one of utmost priority. Once confirmed the money was heading their way, the rest of the funding for the project was smoother sailing. Minnesota Public Facilities Authority (MPFA) and Minnesota’s Water Infrastructure Funding provided an additional boost on a state level, making the project possible.
Minnesota Representative Roger Skraba spoke on the difficulties of getting funding at the moment and possible future improvements to the MPFA system to make it easier to aid future similar projects by pooling community resources throughout the state, which he summed up with the statement: “When communities help communities, we all benefit.” He also spoke on his success working alongside Minnesota Senator Grant Hauschild to gain bipartisan support for local projects. “We’re fighting for you,” he addressed the crowd. “We want to make sure that our projects in greater Minnesota, especially in our district, get funded.”
Senator Hauschild planned on attending the ceremony as well but was unable to after an unexpected last-minute schedule change. He apologized for his absence and said in a statement afterwards that “this project is a major step forward in ensuring Silver Bay residents have the modern, foundational water infrastructure they need to have safe, clean, and dependable water. The state and federal funding for this project also offsets the costs our local governments face in essential but expensive infrastructure upgrades, without passing the burden to local ratepayers. This is a winwin.”
Engineering for the project is being done by Bolton & Menk, a longtime collaborator with Silver Bay and others in the region. The project will have construction performed by Magney Construction & Development. Magney Construction previously worked on the City’s recent Wastewater Treatment Facility upgrades. The project is anticipated to be complete around November of 2027.
City Administrator Fralich wrapped up the speeches by once again thanking all those involved, including the construction crews, volunteers, city staff, legislators and their staff, and Lake County and state workers. She commended the current city council as well, stating, “I’ve been here 18 years, and we have had success because we’ve had all the wheels moving in the same direction.” Adding up all the infrastructure projects the city has been doing in the past 8-10 years, she said, “we’re seeing over a 50 million dollar investment” in Silver Bay, invoking applause from the attendees.
With support from local and state resources, ongoing improvement projects, a growing tourist economy, and other promising new income streams such as helium soon to come, the optimism of the gathering seems well-placed. Silver Bay may indeed be on the road towards a brighter future, so long as folks are willing to work together to make it a better place.
