Amid water safety issues for infants, Northfield rejects proposed water treatment facility
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Earlier this year, the Northfield City Council decided not to build a new water treatment facility, citing expensive construction costs.
The council rejected plans to spend about $83 million on a new plant in January. Northfield, located just south of the Twin Cities, has been grappling with water quality since 2019. That’s when the city discovered its drinking water had more manganese than recommended by the Minnesota Department of Health.
Mayor Erica Zweifel voted against building a water treatment facility. She says she did so because the city, which is home to Carleton and St. Olaf colleges, is a great place to live for affluent residents, but tougher on people who don’t have a lot of money.
“There was concern that, and still is concern, that it’s getting less affordable to live in Northfield,” Zweifel said.
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The council approved plans to build a new plant last year when the project was estimated to cost $60 million. But when the construction bids came in at about $83 million, a majority of council members rejected plans to move forward.
“We are caught between a rock and a hard place,” said Ben Martig, Northfield city administrator. “No one is voting against healthy drinking water, but construction costs are skyrocketing in the current economic climate.”
Manganese is commonly found in drinking water and can also be found in rocks and soil. But if children and adults drink water with levels of manganese above the guidance level over a long period of time, it may lead to problems with memory, attention and motor skills.
For infants one year old and younger, the impacts are more severe. They could develop learning and behavior problems if they drink water with too much manganese.
Despite the current condition of Northfield’s water, Martig said there are things residents can do to make it safe.
“People can have manganese removed from their system by… using a reverse osmosis system,” he said. “Softening water can be a way also to have it removed. However, most people do not have their water softener directly connected to their drinking process because of the salty kind of flavor that you often get from that. So, it’s pretty common that it doesn’t go direct. The third option, or most common, would be the bottled water.”
Northfield is advising residents to primarily use bottled water or use under-the-sink filters to avoid manganese in their drinking water. According to the city, 300 micrograms of manganese per liter of water or less is safe for those older than one year old.
But some Northfield residents are still concerned about water safety.
Laurel Quill said she was unaware about the health risks with the city’s tap water for her son, who recently turned one.
“We had been giving it to our less than 1-year-old child for the last six months without any knowledge,” Quill said. “There was not as much awareness as we maybe would have hoped, moving into town with a baby.”
So she asked her doctor for advice.
“We just put in a note with our pediatrician,” Quill said. “It seems like their concern is low, since he wasn’t having formula mixed with the water,” she said.
She is disappointed Northfield’s plans fell through to build a new water treatment facility and hopes to see it built in the future. For now, she’s using bottled water and relying on a filtered water system in her home for safe drinking water.
Beth Cox has lived in Northfield for eight years. She says it’s expensive and is skeptical of how the city is spending tax dollars. “Property taxes went up like 20 percent this year, which was really hard,” she said. “On top of it, we’re also seeing major cuts to our school system.”
Cox says building a new water facility should be a priority, but also wants the council to frugal.
“I would like to see better spending of the tax money in other places, so that the water treatment plant didn't feel like another extra on top of everything else,” she said.