Water

Glencoe’s water supply comes from three wells which are all located in the Cambrian Mount Simon-Hinckley aquifer. The depths of these wells vary from 575 feet to 800 feet. These wells are monitored daily by Glencoe’s Water Department staff and all water pumped is recorded daily and reported to Minnesota DNR yearly.

Glencoe’s Water Treatment Plant can deliver a maximum of 1.8 million gallons of treated water per day. The Water Plant treats an average of 416,000 gallons of water per day. Its plant consists of two aeration chambers, two gravity filters, and five ion-exchange units. As the water leaves the treatment plant, chlorine, and fluoride are added to meet Minnesota Department of Health regulations. The water is softened to 3.5 grains of hardness before it leaves the treatment plant. With the ion-exchange softening system, there is no need for the residents of Glencoe to install water softeners in their homes.

There are three water towers located within the City of Glencoe with a total storage capacity of 800,000 gallons. All three towers are on a scheduled maintenance program. Every three years they are drained, inspected, washed out and put back into service. All three water towers are on a schedule to get repainted every 7 to10 years. Various companies rent out space on top of the towers for antenna installations, the money generated by this covers the cost of the upkeep of the towers.

Glencoe has over 37 miles of water mains which distributes the water to its customer’s, these distribution lines are flushed and cleaned annually. There are 300 fire hydrants within the community for fire protection. All of these hydrants are flushed and inspected each year.