June 13 to 19 is Men’s Health Week. Fargo Cass Public Health would like to raise awareness for men’s health issues by encouraging everyone to wear blue on June 17. June 27 is National HIV Testing Day when people are encouraged to be tested for HIV, know their status and get linked to care and treatment if needed. Free and confidential HIV testing is available at the public health clinic, which also offers PrEP to help prevent HIV. The clinic will have additional staff available to accommodate increased testing needs.
The annual Summer Reading Challenge theme at the Fargo Public Library is “Oceans of Possibilities” and participants of all ages are encouraged to read every day to complete challenges, earn badges and win prizes. This program runs through August 20th and includes stories, events, crafts and activities. Participation is free and residents can visit the Library’s website to get registered or download the Bean Stack app to keep track of their reading over the summer.
The Water Utility was awarded a 172 thousand dollar grant for engineering services to design specific water main improvements in Fargo. The projects will help with water pressure and reduce water age in some areas of the water distribution system. The grant award is from the ND Department of Water Resources and is a 60 percent grant and 40 percent local cost-share agreement. The full projects will be designed in 2022 with plans for construction in 2023. This work is a joint effort between the Engineering, Water Utility and Planning departments. Water Utility participated in a voluntary EPA program to help plan climate resiliency projects to help with source water availability and management during times of drought. This work used an the EPA web-based tool CREAT, which stands for Climate Resilience Evaluation and Awareness Tool, to evaluate capital projects mostly related to source water. The CREAT tool predicts weather and precipitation scenarios decades into the future and the potential impacts on water supply for Fargo. The Water Utility worked with the EPA and the Fargo case study has been presented nationally in EPA workshops, to the US Conference of Mayors and will be published in an article in the Journal of the American Water Works Association.
On May 31, community members gathered at the corner of 2nd Street and 1st Avenue North along the Red River in Downtown Fargo to unveil the new dynamic lighting system illuminating “The Spirit of the Sandbagger” sculpture archway. With permanent flood protection in Fargo less than six years from being fully realized, “The Spirit of the Sandbagger” serves as a reminder for future residents and visitors of the successful efforts of past generations who rose to the challenge of protecting the community from floodwaters time and time again. We express sincere appreciation to the Fargo Lions Club, who raised over 200 thousand dollars to ensure this project was all privately funded.