Imagine a community of any significant size not having a viable source of water. Not possible.

A related matter concerns what the community does with its "used" water and sewage.

The city of Bismarck is spending $35 million over a five-year period on three major utility projects, including water and sewage treatment. That seems like a pile of money. But the expenditures actually represent progress in a growing city.

A person turns on a water faucet in the home and expects clean, treated water to flow. And when later another plumbing fixture is flushed, what happens afterward becomes of no concern to the average person. Out of sight, out of mind.

Water insourcing and treatment, along with sewage treatment, are not glamorous activities of a municipality. They are, however, among the most important.

The water projects, an intake system costing around $12 million and a plant that operates as a great big water softener with a $10 million price tag, are definitely needed and in some instances replacement of facilities and equipment is overdue. The core of the sludge plant is somewhere around 75 years old, though several times remodeled and added onto, and some 30-year-old equipment has reached the end of its lifespan.

It's a good time to build. If you look at every new house or building under construction to the north, south and east of the older parts of Bismarck, each structure represents a demand on water and sewage treatment utilities. The new construction will not be put on hold while the city jury-rigs equipment to make it last longer than it should.

Bismarck and its neighbor are so very fortunate in having the Missouri River as a resource. Water is lifeblood. Only, the river can be uncooperative. Along with water, the river sends its sands and solid matter into the 50-year-old intake at the bottom of the channel. Any time a pump has to deal with sand, problems are inevitable. The smart solution employed in the new intake is to work with the river. An intake in a well sunk below the river will draw water that has seeped downward through the permeable soils underneath the river. So the river bottom itself acts as a natural filter.

The city faces the challenge of being able to meet peak demand for water in a short season during summer and then whatever is needed the rest of the time. The new facilities will be a great help.

As for sewage treatment, there's no glitz to the $12 million project ; it simply has to be done and done right.

Bismarck is preparing for the future.