ST. PAUL – State Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, has authored legislation to provide state capital investment funding for construction of a new water treatment plant in Ramsey.
The project is in response to the Minnesota Department of Health reporting unsafe levels of manganese in multiple Ramsey city wells. The $37 million price tag to complete the work would be the city’s largest capital investment project ever. Niska is seeking $20 million in state capital investment funds to cover roughly half the tab.
“Minnesota’s capital investment bills are geared toward supporting our infrastructure, particularly water and sewer projects,” Niska said. “This project in Ramsey fits that description to the letter and I will continue working to bring the state in as an active partner to help fund the completion of this much-needed facility.”
Niska said his bill (H.F. 1177) has been referred to the House committee on taxes and awaits its first hearing.
Niska also said he continues working with fellow lawmakers and other officials to advance a separate capital investment bill (H.F. 363) he authored with local ties. That bill would allow Andover to design and construct new municipal water mains in the city’s Red Oaks neighborhood, where the cancer-causing chemical dioxane was detected in private drinking water wells.
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