For months now, residents have wondered just how much it would cost to build a water treatment plant to treat city water for PFAS.  

On Monday the city of Hastings and its residents got its answer: $15,388,800.  

The city approved contracts with A-1 Excavating for the raw watermain project in the amount of $3,059,757, and with Magney Construction for the central water treatment plant in the amount of $15,388,800. 

Both bids were under the engineers’ estimate, 11% for the raw water main, and nearly 20% for the water treatment plant itself.  

“We are moving our PFAS journey into the construction phase,” said Ryan Stempski, Hastings Public Works Director.  

That construction phase in particular is expected to begin in mid-September.  

For the raw water treatment main, pipe will be laid mostly along Seventh Street and North Frontage Road to bring water from Well 7 to the central water treatment plant.  

Within the residential area, the project involves digging up half of the street in order to insert the new raw water main some 8.5 feet below ground level. Which side of the street will be torn up, however, will vary based on existing utility infrastructure.  

Despite only half of the street being torn up, the entire street will be milled and overlaid including repouring driveway aprons so that “it will be like we weren’t there,” said Public Works Director Ryan Stempski in the June 2 city council meeting.  

Because the project will span into the new year, the project will be put on hold during the winter with gravel and a first lift of blacktop being laid along the half of the street that is dug up so that residents can get into and out of their driveways.  

In stopping the project, the city wanted to “leave residents in a good spot this winter,” said Stempski.  

The raw water main project is expected to be completed by spring or summer 2026 depending on weather conditions.  

The 15,000 square foot water treatment plant located at 1292 North Frontage Road will treat water from wells 3.5. and 7. It is being constructed by Magney Construction, the same company that constructed the nitrate treatment plant next door to the site, including with some of the same staff, according to Stempski.  

Demolition of the building on the site is expected in late September with the project running throughout 2026. 

The water treatment plant will feature 12 granular activated carbon (GAC) filters with open space in the facility for future nitrates treatment. Those filters were designed with the future in mind so that processes can change as the process of removing PFAS from water does: “We know it’s a technology that’s changing every day,” said Stempski.  

Upon completion of the facility, residents will be able to fill jugs of water from the fill station at the site in order to get city water free of PFAS. Any resident with a water account with the city will be able to come and fill up containers with water, said Stempski.  

Due to the city’s current water infrastructure, city water will not contain an amount of PFAS below federal guidelines until all three water treatment plants are constructed, which is currently expected to be in 2029.