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to be located . Rather than build it in the more constrained downtown area near the river , a decision was made to build it on the west side of the town , along with the reservoir and pump station , where there is also more space to expand .

“[ The flood ] allowed the City of Grand Forks to reinvent its protection systems .” Feland says . “ It was really out of a bad situation that , working with our federal and state partners we were able to come up with a better system that provided much more security in our community .

“ Instead of having the river be your enemy we were able to move back and create recreational opportunities . We like to think we ’ re a little bit of a poster child for flood recovery .”

Grand Forks City Administrator

The old facility will be converted into a mixed-use development , which Feland believes will be a great project .

“ That will be exciting for the community to see how we can redevelop areas that have been more of an industrial setting ,” he added .

“ We ’ re not London , England , but even in Grand Forks people are focused on downtown redevelopment . The water treatment plant site will be more of a mixed use setting as opposed to having a water treatment plant which is more of an industrial setting . It ’ s really a unique way we

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