River Needs
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers needs the authority Congress can give it to handle any emergency causing a shortage of drinking water if the flow of the Missouri River continues to dwindle.
The corps is a great maker of rules but also is bound by many rules.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., vowed in a meeting in Bismarck last week to initiate any rule changes necessary for the corps to be able to help out communities in North Dakota that rely on intakes to draw water from the river or that get their drinking water from pipelines running from Lake Sakakawea.
Dorgan has clout, because he now chairs the Senate subcommittee that has authority over the budgets of the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation.
Being high and dry happened to Fort Yates in 2003. Unless there is a phenomenal amount of snowmelt and precipitation in the river’s extensive upper basin, it could happen to other communities.
The management of the river has drawn the comment of this newspaper on many occasions, but it seems opportune right now to reassert strongly that the multiple needs of the upstream states deserve to be honored by those in authority, including Congress, the corps and the bureau.
Manipulating the river flow to allow downstream barge navigation is an out-of-date, losing proposition.
Without there being a formal compact that would allocate Missouri River water, it will take exercising pressure – particularly on the corps – to focus on a priority of usage. And drinking water should be a high priority.
It must be borne in mind that there are potential users of Missouri River water who have designs on it to slake the thirst of a growing population and to satisfy the interests of businesses that need water, say for manufacturing.
They’re not too far to the east of us, in the Red River Valley.
The supplemental draft of the environmental impact statement of the Red River Valley Water Supply Project has reached the point where public hearings will soon be held in four localities. The Garrison Diversion Conservancy District is urging the project more strongly than ever.
In our area, the hearings will be:
3 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bismarck’s Doublewood Inn.
3 7 p.m. Thursday at the Prairie Knights Casino and Resort north of Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Reservation.
3 7 p.m. Friday at Four Bears Casino and Lodge at New Town on the Fort Berthold Reservation.
People need to stress the necessity of meeting the needs of present users. If a drought affects the Red River so much that it ceases to flow – a worst-case scenario reminiscent of the 1930s – the drought could well affect the water supply of the Missouri River. Garrison Diversion could draw down the level of Lake Sakakawea an inch a year in such a situation.
It must be noted that Missouri River water is being eyed not only by the eastern part of the state with its growing population but also by the Minnesota cities of Breckenridge, Moorhead and East Grand Forks.
Therefore, it’s important for people in the central and western parts of North Dakota to be vocal about local needs.
People elsewhere are likely to continue to have designs on the high quality water of the upper Missouri River.
The river needs friends as well as users.some friends
(c) 2007 Bismarck Tribune. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.