Prior Lake, Minnesota - The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community announced today plans to open a water bottling plant on the reservation. The plant will open in July 2008 in a space between the Dakota Development Complex and the Gaming Enterprise Laundry facility.

Renovations are already underway on the space which was previously used as an Inventory Control Warehouse. Equipment for the facility is being purchased and installed by Norland Int’l Inc. of Lincoln, Nebraska. Installation of equipment is expected to take two to three weeks beginning July 7, 2008. Production is tentatively scheduled to begin no later than July 30, 2008.

“As we watched shipping and transportation costs increase due to rising gas prices and other factors, we thought, ‘Why can’t we do this ourselves here on the reservation?’ So we looked into it, and it was a viable economic opportunity,” said SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks. “We go through a lot of water at our various enterprises and special events, and it will be a positive expression of tribal sovereignty for our Community to bottle our own water. We have managed our own water system, including two water treatment plants, for many years, and this is a logical next step for us.”

Water from the SMSC Water Treatment Plant located behind Little Six Casino will flow into the bottled water plant. Several components, beginning with a pre-treatment reverse osmosis unit and an ozone disinfectant unit will further treat the water. A blow molder will create plastic bottles in various sizes from preformed PET. PolyEthylene Terephthalate, is a resin of the polyester family used in synthetic fibers; beverage, food, and other liquid containers; and other applications.

A SpectraPak 5000 system will use a rotary bottle feed table, an automatic bottle rinser, a bottle filler, a labeler/capper, a cap tightener, and an accumulation conveyor to fill the bottles. Then CasePak and ShrinkPak machines will pack cases of the bottled water and shrink wrap it for distribution.

Initially, existing employees of the SMSC Public Works Department will staff the plant. The production line, though capable of running 24 hours a day, will run as needed to produce and maintain necessary supplies for Community purposes.

The first major production run will be for 5,000 cases of 12-ounce bottles for the annual SMSC Wacipi (Pow Wow) to be held August 15-17, 2008 at the SMSC PowWow grounds.

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