Harlan Municipal Utilities has announced after five years of construction and planning, the new HMU water treatment plant is in operation. The plant was first approved by the HMU board in 2008 and is now online providing water to the city of Harlan. The $7.1 million operation will see 2.4 million gallons per day capacity and is fully automated, runs 24 hours a day, removes iron and manganese from water, uses reverse osmosis technology to further filter and soften water and has fluoride and chlorine added to the finished product. In a press release from HMU, Steve Dresen, director of Gas and Water, said, “This plant will be much more efficient than the old one as we are using new and automated technology. We anticipate our labor, operations and maintenance costs to decrease. One thing I do want our customers to know is they may notice a different taste to the water.” He stated the plant uses a different way to clean the water and HMU still meets all the safety and quality standards.

(Joel McCall KNOD)