A pilot project for a nitrate filtration system in a rural town should be operational in Kingfisher County next year.

The plant is currently under construction on the east side of Loyal and is a joint project between the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board (OWRB) as well as the Oklahoma Rural Water Association (ORWA).

“It has taken a while and we’ve learned a lot as we’ve gone through this,” said Dorothy Glazier, the Loyal town treasurer. “It has been a slow process with lots of paperwork and making sure all our i’s are dotted and our t’s are crossed.”

The filtration system is designed to remove high levels of nitrates typically found in well water supplies often found in agricultural areas.

Currently, Loyal has to have certified testing of its water done quarterly and then has to post notices if the water is above acceptable limits of nitrates.

To help get - and keep - nitrates at an acceptable level, a plan was spurred about four years ago to put in a plant at Loyal.

First, land was purchased from a local landowner across from the town’s water well.

Then came the planning stages, the funding and, finally, the construction.

Funding has primarily come from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund through the DEQ and OWRB.

That has totaled about $600,000, said Glazier.

The Northern Oklahoma Development Authority (NODA) also kicked in $50,000 to get the process started.

The months and months - and even years - of planning turned into the construction phase just over two months ago.

Orr Construction has been in charge of the project.

“Once they were able to get started, it’s moved really quickly,” Glazier said. “They’ve been great to work with.”

Shawn Sewell of the ORWA has also been providing technical advice throughout the project, according to Glazier.

Once construction is finished later this year, Glazier said there will be some final phases that have to be checked off before it’s operational.

Once it is, Glazier and the town’s mayor, Floyd “Junior” Glazier, will be in charge of the day-to-day operation.

Both have had to attain Class D licenses to be qualifi ed to run it.

They will be overseen by other entities on a regular basis to ensure things are running as they should, Glazier said.

The plant includes the filtration system (“it looks like a system you have in your house, just a bigger volume,” said Glazier), a generator for backup power and also one for the water well and two lagoons which will hold the waste water for evaporation.

Once the project is ready to become operational, the town plans a grand opening with local legislators as well as representatives from all the agencies who have contributed in the process.

And, if it works as well as projected, it could become one of the first of many across the state.

“They’re hoping that maybe more small towns in Oklahoma will start doing this,” Glazier said.