SECTION 3
Water shortages threaten area as frequently as water surpluses
ater supply has not been a
W problem in our region in the
past few years – but that will
change.
As I write, the National Weather Service
reports that the region is in moderate
drought and that the chance of flooding
this year is very low.
This is a reminder that too little water is
as great a problem as too much water – and
that the region needs to deal with shortage
as well as surplus.
That’s the point of this third installment
of our “Living with Water” series. It
explores water for drinking, for
agriculture, for industry, for recreation
and for wildlife, and it looks at a critical
new issue – water to sustain the oil boom
in western North Dakota.
Discuss this series at water.areavoices.com
series wraps up Feb. 26 with reports about
William C.
MARCIL
Forum
the challenges of managing water across
drainage basins and political boundaries.
The series is great reading, and we
believe it has significant historical value
as well. The series is distributed in Forum
Communications newspapers and broadcast on our
Co. chairman television and radio stations. It also
appears on Forum Communications Co.
websites.
We welcome your comments. Please
email them to Mike Jacobs, the project
coordinator at mjacobs@gfherald.com.
Forum Communications Co. has invested Back copies are available by completing
hundreds of hours in developing this the coupon printed in today’s section.
comprehensive “Living with Water” series. Thanks again – and good reading.
We hope you continue to enjoy these William C. Marcil
articles. Chairman
Next week’s topic is water quality. The Forum Communications Co.

PAGE 2
A FORUM
COMMUNICATIONS
SPECIAL PROJECT
SUNDAY,
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
The 74-mile long McClusky Canal is a popular spot for recreation.
ON THE COVER
Water: beautiful, useful
An irrigation system
in Park Rapids, Minn.
Mikkel Pates/ Forum
Communications Co.
and often problematic
CORRECTION
The steamboat Far
West did not carry the
Seventh Cavalry to
Little Big Horn as a
ack in 1971, the Chamber of
B
photo caption on
Page 6 of the first Commerce in Dickinson,
N.D., sponsored a town and
section of Living with
Water said. Instead,
country tour. The idea – a
familiar one in ag country – was to
the Far West brought take businesspeople out to the
news of the battle country so they could see growing
back to Bismarck, crops and grazing cattle.
That year, sponsors of the tour
where Tribune editor placed special emphasis on water,
Clement Lounsberry and the group visited a variety of
telegraphed the news irrigation systems, stock
to eastern watering schemes and small
newspapers. impoundments.
The tour was in mid-summer,
and the season had been hot and
dry.
At mid-afternoon, near the
height of the heat, the tour pulled
into a ranch yard northwest of
Dickinson. The host rancher
greeted us. His wife offered
IT
lemonade.
Then the tour began.
The rancher, son of Ukrainian
immigrants, showed off his herd
of Black Angus cattle. He showed
off a couple of horses.
Then he showed off his water
development.
NEED
It was a marvel.
He’d dammed a small stream
and installed a spillway. Water
trickled over the gravel and flowed
through a pipe into a stock
watering tank below.
The rancher dipped his hand
into the cool water and let it drop
through his fingers. Then he
looked at the group and he said, “I
just beauty in water.”
I have never forgotten this man’s
passion for water nor his
delightful way of expressing it.
Water exerts a powerful pull on
human beings. Some scientists say
we came from water, and certainly
it is necessary for our welfare. We
WE
depend on it for health. We bathe
in it.
Water defines region’s differences
he word “ecotone”
T describes a transitional
zone between two regions
of distinctly different
WHEN
ecological communities. The Red
River Valley is a classic example.
The sun rises in the east over the
more than 10,000 lakes of the
Minnesota North Woods. At day’s
end, the sun goes down in the west
over the almost treeless horizon of
the North Dakota prairie. The
flora and fauna of each region is
distinctly different from the other,
and the Red River Valley forms
what appears to be a natural
borderland.
But the differences between the
North Woods and the Northern
Plains are not caused by any river.
The difference is the reliability of
water. Much of the moisture
source for the precipitation that
falls on our region is the Pacific
WATER
Ocean. Some of the moisture is
recycled from local bodies of
SECTION 3
water. But the difference maker is
moisture-laden air from the Gulf
of Mexico. Weather systems
crossing the Rockies have very
little Gulf moisture in them, but
with each eastward mile, they have
an increasing chance of
entraining more of that good,
deep moisture supply.
In upcoming sections
SECTION 1: JAN 29 FEB. 19
Water where we live: From Keeping our water clean:
drought to flood, water Quality poses challenges
bedevils us throughout the area
SECTION 2: FEB. 5
FEB. 26
When water overwhelms us:
Making water policy: A
Flooding from Minnesota
maze of agencies manage
Lakes Country to the
resources in the region
Montana line
But the
attraction is
more than
merely
physical.
It is
economic, too.
Water makes
our industrial
civilization
possible. It
drives our
turbines and
cools our engines. It nurtures our
crops. It attracts tourists and
permanent residents alike.
But this is not all.
Water exerts an inexorable
psychological attraction, too. It
gives rise to what might be called a
spiritual longing. Indeed, water
plays an important role in
religious rituals.
We humans want to live by
water. We want to play in water. We
want to be cleansed by water.
So it is hardly surprising that
ensuring an adequate supply of
water is among humankind’s
essential activities. Nor is it
surprising that achieving the goal
has led to grandiose project ideas.
Some of these have become firm
fixations through generations on
the Plains.
Minnesota’s Lakes Country has
always attracted hot and thirsty
travelers from the Plains, and
tourism and retirement are both
big business there. As a result, real
estate prices skyrocketed during
the run-up to the current
recession. Although they’ve fallen
back, a place by the lake remains a
dream.
The dream has taken other
directions on the Plains, which are
warmer and dryer than Lakes
Country. So Dakotans have created
their own lakes.
No fewer than four dams stop the
John
WHEELER
The WDAY and
WDAZ chief
meteorologist earned
his degree at Iowa
State University
Annual average precipitation in
eastern Minnesota is more than 30
inches, whereas in western North
Dakota, it is barely 12 inches. In
any given year, the actual amount
of rain and snow can vary greatly,
but the plain fact is that a forest
will grow only where there is
enough precipitation to sustain a
forest. Where there is not enough
rain for a forest, a forest does not
grow.
But weather and climate are not
static. During times of drought,
some of the forest may burn and
some of the trees along the
western edge may wither and die,
allowing the grassland to expand
slightly eastward. When rainfall
increases for a period of years, the
same shifts may happen in the
opposite direction.
Devils Lake, sitting as it does in
a closed basin, is the poster child
for the gradual swings of the
Join us at water.areavoices.com
Have a story to tell about living
with water? Then please visit our
Living with Water website at
http://water.areavoices.com/ to read
more about this project, to interact with
others who are contributing and to tell us
your own story.
Also on the site, you’ll find a library of
water-related news stories from regional
Missouri River
on its way
Mike through the
JACOBS Dakotas, and
two of these
Grand Forks
Herald publisher
are among the
and “Living largest lakes
with Water” in the world,
project editor Oahe in South
Dakota and
Garrison in
North Dakota.
Dozens of
tributary streams have been
dammed, too, in fact almost every
one.
Here’s where fixation fits in.
The dams on the Missouri River
back up huge quantities of water,
and Dakotans have dreamed for
generations about how to make
use of the water. Huge irrigation
projects were proposed for both
states. A huge canal was dug
across central North Dakota and a
massive retaining structure put in
place. In the end, Congress refused
to continue funding for the
Garrison project.
A remnant of the Garrison
project remains, however, in the
proposal to move water from the
Garrison Reservoir to eastern
North Dakota, where it would
provide water for people and
industries in the Red River Valley.
South Dakota’s Oahe project has
a similar history.
Although the major reservoirs
are no longer seen as sources for
irrigation water, the idea of water
for the land to produce larger
crops has not been abandoned.
Farmland irrigation is a major
initiative across the farm belt of
the Dakotas, especially of potatoes
and alfalfa – relatively high-value
crops that benefit hugely from
additional water and, in the case of
potatoes, from the chemicals that
can be applied with the water, a
ecotone: shrinking to a glorified
mud puddle in times of drought,
then morphing into an inland sea
when precipitation is plentiful.
The rivers of our region are
more fickle; an inch of rain causes
them to rise noticeably. But the
wider swings of the climate also
affect the rivers. During the
ongoing, 20-year wet period, rivers
have been running higher most of
the time, and flooding has become
frequent. Times of drought have,
in the past, caused some rivers to
stop flowing altogether.
During the drier times in the
past, there has been a push to
bring water from Lake Sakakawea
eastward to the Red River Valley.
The idea still has merit even
though too much, not too little,
water seems to be our singular
concern at the moment.
Indeed, too little water in the Red
River Basin, with a switch of the
weather patterns, could easily
become a concern every bit as
formidable as the recent threat of
flooding. During the 1930s, cities
up and down the Red River faced
significant water shortages, and
that was when the area’s
population was a small fraction of
what it is today.
Obviously, the agricultural
Forum Communications Co. newspapers,
and you can visit our collection of water
resource Web links, and much more.
This project’s mission is to build
understanding about water and its
impact on our lives across the region,
and your contributions will lead to a
deeper understanding of the issues
surrounding water. Discuss it with us.
Garrison Diversion Conservancy District
process called “chemigation.”
And the reservoirs draw people.
In Mountrail County, villages
have cropped up along the north
shore of Lake Sakakawea, the
reservoir behind Garrison Dam.
The old town of Van Hook – where
my parents began their married
life – is such a place. There are
many others on the banks of every
large impoundment.
Because the impoundments have
fish.
They also draw wildlife. Much
land along the shoreline is
reserved for wildlife habitat,
including a plum patch planted on
my grandfather’s homestead.
Waterfowl are abundant on the
lake.
For these reasons, and others,
the river reservoirs have become
recreational havens.
There’s another demand for
water in western North Dakota,
too – the oil industry. The processs
used to produce oil hints at the
huge quantities of water involved.
It’s called “hydraulic fracturing”
or fracking and involves pumping
a slurry of water, sand and
chemicals two miles into the earth
to apply pressure that fractures
the shale and releases the oil.
These uses and others are
explored in this section of “Living
with Water.”
Next week’s edition will consider
the quality of water. Two weeks
from today, Feb. 26, the fifth and
final section of the project will
consider the challenges of
managing water, sharing it within
and across natural drainage
basins and political boundaries
and ensuring that there’s enough
to sustain us here.
And of course enough to ensure
that all of us can appreciate the
beauty of water for generations to
come.
sector also faces water needs
during dry times. Prairie grass
may go dormant for a few years
during a drought, but a farmer
needs a crop every year. Where soil
conditions permit, irrigation can
bridge the gaps between the rains.
But when the region is in a
drought, the water needs to come
from outside the region.
Fortunately, the water in Lake
Sakakawea comes, to a large
extent, from the mountains of
Montana and Wyoming, where
average annual winter snowfall
from 150 to 300 inches can yield the
equivalent of 15 to 30 inches of
rain when it melts. While it is
certainly possible for the Rockies
to be dry at the same time as our
region is dry, the two climates are
not necessarily related. The
amount of water siphoned off the
top of Lake Sakakawea to meet the
needs of the Red River Valley
would be hardly noticeable.
A backup supply of water from
the Rockies would go a long way
toward solving the water problems
of the Red River Basin the next
time the weather goes seriously
dry. With flooding the problem on
everyone’s mind, it may be hard to
find the wherewithal for such a
project.

When Fargo
wanted to
divert water
Diversion hasn’t always
suggested a detour
By Kristen M. Daum
Forum Communications Co.
FARGO – In Fargo today, the
phrase “Sheyenne diversion” is
associated with flood protection.
Several decades ago, it referred
to a different channel with an
opposite purpose: to funnel river
water toward the city to meet
growing residential and
commercial needs. The challenge
then was the lack of water, and
tapping the Sheyenne River was
the city’s prime solution.
Severe drought in the 1930s
prompted an acute awareness of
water supply. Official discussion
began in late 1949 about building a
dam and ditch to divert the
Sheyenne toward Fargo. By then,
Fargo had already paid $150,000
toward construction of the
Baldhill Dam north of Valley City,
giving the city 52 percent of the
rights to access Lake Ashtabula’s
water in times of drought.
Fargo Water Commissioner Fred
Hagen later said, “That
investment will do us no good”
without some method to funnel
Sheyenne River water five miles
east directly to Fargo.
The Sheyenne River naturally
flows into the Red River near
Harwood, north of Fargo. But city
leaders wanted to build a water
control project southwest of Fargo
to connect the two rivers nearer to
the city, providing easier access to
a stable water supply.
After years of discussion, the
need for a Sheyenne diversion
became more urgent in the late
1950s.
Fargo engineers and the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers
formulated plans to build a
concrete conduit to funnel
Sheyenne River water into a ditch
near what is now Horace. The
ditch would lead to Cass County
Drain 27 and ultimately Rose
Coulee. From there, the water
would empty into the Red River at
Michael Vosburg / Forum Communications Co.
PAGE 3
A FORUM
COMMUNICATIONS
SPECIAL PROJECT
SUNDAY,
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
a location then still two miles
south of Fargo, where 40th Avenue
South runs today.
The diversion was intended to
carry as many as 37.5 million
gallons of water toward Fargo
each day.
The project stalled in 1967 after
Army Corps of Engineers officials
told Fargo leaders that they
planned to make a basinwide
study of the Red River and its
tributaries, potentially rendering
the Sheyenne diversion canal
unnecessary.
A dry spell in summer 1970 was
another wake-up call for the Fargo
region, speeding up consideration
of the Sheyenne project.
“For days, the river between
Fargo and Moorhead was only a
trickle,” The Forum newspaper
reported. “Red River waters were
depleted to their lowest point
since the dust bowl days of the
1930s.”
In April 1971, Fargo’s inclusion
in the Southeast Cass County
Water Management District
cleared the final administrative
hurdle for the decades-old plans
for a Sheyenne diversion to
become reality.
Revised plans called for a 400-
foot canal starting at the Sheyenne
River in Horace that would run
east along Cass County Road 6 Drainage Ditch 27 runs parallel to 40th Avenue South in Fargo
until it met up with Drain 27 as Interstate 29 cuts through the middle of the frame in this
southwest of Fargo. Drain 27 and aerial photo looking west.
Rose Coulee would usher the
water the rest of the way to the wouldn’t be needed for a few more The canal remained in use for 10
Red River south of Fargo, but the years. months, as drought conditions
canal would only be used for Drought conditions re-emerged continued into the summer of 1977.
“emergency water supply” when in 1976 when flows on the Red and The canal has only been needed
the Red River ran low. the Otter Tail ran low. twice since – in 1984 and 1988 –
At the project’s groundbreaking “Fargo-Moorhead residents will according to the city of Fargo.
in October 1971, Fargo Mayor soon get their first taste of The wet period of the past two
Herschel Lashkowitz said the Sheyenne River water,” a Forum decades has given Fargo an
canal would “have the effect of article in August 1976 stated. abundance of water and made
more than doubling the amount of Fargo engineers, in cooperation dormant the once-desperately
water for the city of Fargo in with the corps, activated the intake needed water supply project for
critical times.” and pumping station on the North Dakota’s largest city.
One year later, the $500,000 Sheyenne River near Horace, Kristen M. Daum reports
project was complete, but it meeting Fargo’s need for water. for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.
PAGE 4
A FORUM
‘Normal year’ brings fun
on region’s lakes, rivers
COMMUNICATIONS
SPECIAL PROJECT
SUNDAY,
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
By Tom Lawrence
Forum Communications Co.
PIERRE, S.D. – Eric Stasch is
looking forward to a better
summer on the Missouri River.
Stasch, the South Dakota Army
Corps of Engineers’ operations
project manager for the Oahe Dam
in central South Dakota, dealt with
record flooding that plagued the
Midwest in 2011. It damaged
property, displaced people and
shifted shorelines.
The high water also impacted
recreational opportunities for
people who boat, fish and enjoy
other activities along the Missouri
River, Stasch said. The relatively
dry early winter of 2011-12 offers
Map by Troy Becker
Forum Communications Co. the promise that won’t be repeated.
“I’m hoping this is more of a
normal year for us,” he said.
“We’re all hoping for a more
normal year to get people’s lives
back to normal, to let them have
fun and not worry about flooding.”
Having fun and spending time in,
on and along the Missouri River
has been a part of human
existence in the area as long as
man has walked, swam and boated
in the area.
IT
Archaeological digs and
discoveries prove that humans
have interacted with the river for
more than 10,000 years. Numerous
American Indian tribes depended
on the river for food, travel and
pleasure. But the massive floods
that plagued the Missouri led some
NEED
to call for greater controls on the
river.
The Pick-Sloan Missouri Basin
Program was created by the federal
Flood Control Act of 1944, and
designed to create a plan for water
use in the Missouri River Basin. It
is named for Lewis A. Pick,
director of the Missouri River
office of the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, and William Glenn
Sloan, director of the Billings,
Mont., office of the United States
Bureau of Reclamation.
While flood control was a major
concern after repeated flooding,
the program was also intended to
assist navigation, offer irrigation
to landowners, supplement water
WE
supply, generate power, provide
municipal and industrial water
supplies, and perform stream-
pollution abatement and sediment
control.
Recreation also was a part of the
plan from the start – the
preservation and enhancement of
fish and wildlife habitat, and the
creation of recreation
opportunities, were listed as goals.
Recreation got a boost nearly 50
WHEN
years ago, when the Federal Water
Project Recreation Act of 1965
directed the corps to erect
campgrounds, boat ramps and
other recreational areas and
facilities by the reservoirs.
The Missouri National
Recreational River covers 98 miles
of near-pristine river that flows
along the South Dakota and
Nebraska border. It was designated
by Congress under the Wild and
Scenic Rivers Act in 1979 and
expanded to its current size in 1991.
Overall, the Missouri River has
more than 1,500 square miles of
open water, and millions of people
take advantage of the water to do
what their ancestors did: swim,
fish, boat and enjoy life along and
in the river.
WATER
All that recreational use is a
major economic engine for the
SECTION 3
region, dumping up to $100 million
into the economy, according to
estimates.
Tom Curran, the project manager
for the Fort Randall Dam in
southeastern South Dakota, has
fished in all the reservoirs along
the Missouri River during his 25
years with the corps, the last 12 in
charge of the dam.
Curran said the corps has to take
a variety of uses into consideration
as it manages the water in the
Missouri River system.
Water supplies for downstream
communities, irrigation, intakes
for power plants that need cooling
water in the summer, navigation
for barge traffic – all must be
factored in, he said.
Boaters are warned of high-water obstacles at this Missouri River launching dock at
Chamberlain, S.D., in this July 2011 photo.
Recreation is just as important,
Curran said.
“There’s all those uses that kind
of compete for the water,” he said.
“All those uses are authorized by
Congress, and the corps tries to
balance and provide for those
authorized purposes.
“The corps is required by that
legislation to operate the project
for all those purposes. They’re all
equal except for flood control.
Protection of life and property is
first. The rest are all handled
equally.”
He said he oversees several forms
of recreation, including camping,
fishing, boating, skiing, scuba
diving and other kinds of outdoor
activity.
Curran said while flooding made
headlines in 2011, drought is a far
more common concern.
“Even though we had the high
water last year, people were able to
get in and boat and fish,” he said.
“Some stretches of river below
Fort Randall were closed by the
state of South Dakota and the
corps. There were impacts to
navigation as well.”
But in the end, the corps’
decisions are guided by rules, not
whims and personal views, Curran
said.
The Master Manual governs the
system and serves as a guide for
decisions on the release of water,
he said.
John Cooper of Pierre said
recreational facilities on and along
the river have never been better,
but it’s taken a lot of effort and
several legal battles.
Cooper served as secretary of the
South Dakota Department of
Game, Fish and Parks for 12 years
under Govs. Bill Janklow and Mike
Rounds, then spent two years as a
senior adviser on Missouri River
issues to Rounds before he was
named to the GF&P Commission,
where he has served for two and a
half years.
He said the corps has not always
fulfilled the promise of providing
adequate recreational
opportunities along the Upper
Basin of the Missouri.
“I don’t agree that it was given
the same budget priority for the
Corps of Engineers that the other
beneficial uses have received,”
Cooper said. “People from the
Upper Basin felt navigation was
given a greater emphasis.”
It took three lawsuits filed in
federal court by the state of South
Dakota during the Janklow
administration in the 1990s to
convince the corps to be fair with
the water, he said.
“We proved that the recreation
industry was not getting the same
priority, the same legal priority,
that it should be given,” he said.
“Changes were made to upgrade,
to at least put as much on the
Upper Basin as the lower,” Cooper
said. “It’s a matter of public
record.”
What was particularly irritating
during the debate and legal battles
was the marked decline of the boat
and barge traffic on the Missouri,
he said.
But he said the fact that other
states along the Missouri River
have larger populations and more
political power often was a
deciding factor.
In lean years, South Dakota and
the Upper Basin went wanting for
water, Cooper said. In wet years,
they flooded.
“The Upper Basin stores the
water during major flood events,
sometimes to the detriment of
recreation businesses,” Cooper
said. “It also covers farmland.”
He said a deal struck in 2000
turned land along the Missouri
over to tribes and the state, and
many more recreational facilities
were added, Cooper said.
“You’d have to be blind not to see
the massive improvement state
Game, Fish and Parks did with the
land turned over to us,” he said.
Boat ramps and electricity were
added, recreational facilities built
and more people and dollars came
to the areas.
He said despite winning battles
in the past, the struggle continues.
Cooper noted that Montana Gov.
Brian Schweitzer has declined to
attend meetings with the Corps of
Engineers, saying all they wanted
to do was drain his state’s
reservoirs.
“And he has a point,” Cooper
said. “The downstream states have
a lot more Electoral College votes
and more population. We’re often
given short shrift.”
Karen Kern, the executive
director of the Great Lakes of
South Dakota Tourism
Association, said while the 2011
flooding was a challenge, it was
met and will be overcome.
“The flooding this past year had
a negative impact on some areas,
and others were not affected,”
Kern said. “As for Lake Oahe, the
fishing was wonderful, lasted
forever, and flooding for the most
part was not an issue.
“But, below the Oahe Dam, there
was much destruction and loss of
income, plus the repair of damage
is huge. Campgrounds were closed,
ramps closed, marinas had to take
boats out – it varied depending on
where you were and what the river
was doing.”
Many people took a big hit, she
said, especially since the flooding
lasted for such a long time. Rather
than a flood that comes, crests and
then goes down, this one lasted for
three months.
There are three new islands,
“small little things,” he said, that
formed in the south end of Lake
Oahe.
Two other islands in Lake
Sharpe that have long been popular
recreational spots, LaFromboise
Island and Farm Island, grew
larger as soil was deposited on
them. A causeway that connected
LaFromboise to the mainland was
breached, and the island can now
only be accessed by boat.
Trail systems on both islands for
hiking and biking were
undamaged, and natural areas that
are popular destinations are still
intact, he said. Deer hunting
continued on both islands last fall.
There were other impacts.
“There were some fish that came
through our tunnels that died in
the process,” Stasch said. “But the
fishing in the river section
downstream of the dam was just
phenomenal. It was just fantastic
fishing all year long.
“On the lakes themselves, the
impacts were not that great. Like
Lake Oahe, we were only a foot
over our record high. All our boat
landings were useable,” he said.
“The biggest impacts were on the
‘river’ stretches along the river.
It was just too high and came
Chris Huber / Forum Communications Co.
up too fast.”
Kern said there are physical
reminders of the flooding.
“One of the biggest issues now is
that the river has changed from
what it was before. Channels are
different, siltation moved, there
are islands where there were none
before, and many disappeared.
Bank erosion was great from the
Oahe Dam to the south,” she said.
“Case in point – I heard a bunch of
beavers had to relocate because
their homes are now under 30 feet
of water. And there is debris from
the bank erosion.”
Fishing is a major lure for
tourists. “We’ve had calls asking
about it – whether the bait fish are
OK or if they all got shipped down
to Louisiana,” Kern said.
Fisheries experts in the state
took more sample surveys than
they normally do, Kern said, and
now they’re trying to see what
they’ve got.
The fishing is still good up and
down the river, according to Kern;
in fact, anglers have been fishing
longer this fall and winter than
most observers predicted.
Kern said water recreation is
one of the top items listed by
potential visitors to her area.
“There are many resorts along
the Missouri River that cater to
anglers and hunters,” Kern said.
“The guiding business is huge in
this region – many people depend
on the income from hunting and
fishing, and there are larger
upscale resorts to small mom and
pop businesses – all bringing in
tax money for their communities
and counties.”
Other popular forms of
recreation on and near the
Missouri River include Indian
culture sites, historical sites,
biking, hiking, museums,
canoeing and kayaking, and
birding. The Great Lakes of South
Dakota Tourism Association
invests marketing money in
promoting the region along the
Missouri River, Kern said.
The relatively dry winter has
people wondering if the reverse of
last year will be a factor for people
playing on and near the river.
Curran said while the mountain
snowpack is at a normal depth,
there is little snow elsewhere in the
region. A dry year is possible, and
even likely, he said.
It’s something that has been dealt
with in the past, Curran said.
Decisions are made every year on
how much water can be released,
and recreation has a voice in that
decision.
“Probably one of the toughest
factors we face is to make the
public understand that even in
drought, we can get to the Missouri
River – it’s a huge river, and the
bodies of water are large,” Kern
said. “The perception is that access
isn’t out there.”
As the water has receded, things
are getting back to normal for the
people who work and play along
the Mighty Mo.
The Oahe Marina in Fort Pierre,
just south of the Oahe Dam, was the
first major business or property to
be surrounded and flooded when
the Missouri River’s waters began
to rise in late May. The business
includes a restaurant, convenience
store and bait shop and four cabins
and is now re-opened.
Boat slips are available for the
summer, the marina notes on its
website.
Owner Steve Rounds has a lease
to run the business with the Game,
Fish and Parks Department, since
the marina is on state property.
Kern said she expects a good
summer.
“South Dakotans are a hardy
bunch, and we will get through
this, and tourism along the river
will be better than ever,” she said.
Tom Lawrence reports
for the Mitchell (S.D.) Daily Republic.
Wildlife generally PAGE 5
A FORUM
COMMUNICATIONS
SPECIAL PROJECT

wins in wet cycle SUNDAY,

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

Water, CRP have been a boon for ducks, pheasants, deer

By Brad Dokken “Ten years ago, that would have been unheard of. full,” Devney said. “If we
Forum Communications Co. lose that grass and it gets
Every year since the It’s driven breeding duck populations just dry, I think we’ll see the
mid-’90s, Mike Johnson off the charts here in the Dakotas.” effects at a population
has written basically the scale fairly quickly.”
John Devney, senior vice president of Delta Waterfowl, on the fact
same thing when he The only certainty,
compiles the results from the Dakotas now attract more breeding ducks than prairie Canada perhaps, is that the wet
his annual survey of cycle will end eventually.
North Dakota ducks and Floods and droughts are
Johnson said, managers species and be to the tillable acre. More native
wetland abundance. part of the dynamics of
were working to build disadvantage of those that grasslands also will be
“I’d just say the the prairie.
nesting structures, electric require more openness,” going under the plow.
unprecedented wet cycle “We could be at the end
fences and protected Svedarsky said. “In It’s happening already,
continues,” said Johnson, of the wet cycle, but who
islands and peninsulas to general, the wetland Devney of Delta Waterfowl
a longtime waterfowl knows?” Johnson said.
improve duck production wildlife is going to be said.
biologist for the North “This is all pretty new and
on tiny blocks of habitat. doing better in a wet cycle, “Lots of water like we’ve
Dakota Game and Fish enlightening to us because
“We were working hard but if it interferes with had the last three years
Department in Bismarck. we’ve never seen anything
to come up with intensive our ability to keep can whitewash duck
Much of North Dakota grasslands open, then the like this before.”
management strategies to production issues, simply
and surrounding area has grassland species are
produce enough ducks to because those temporary Brad Dokken reports
been immersed in a wet going to be and seasonal wetlands are for the Grand Forks Herald.
keep hunters hunting,”
cycle since the summer of disadvantaged.”
Johnson said. “We were
1993, and the water, on Because the wet cycle
spending huge amounts of
balance, has been a has persisted, Johnson
money.”
positive for wildlife. said some wetlands have
It couldn’t compare with
The timing couldn’t have gotten so large they’re now Assisting communities with sustainable water
grass and rain, though.
been better for ducks,
John Devney, senior vice supporting fish instead of resource management recognizing
Johnson said, because the
president of Delta ducks. Once wetlands environmental concerns.
beginning of the wet cycle become too large and too
Waterfowl, said the
coincided with peak deep, aquatic vegetation
Dakotas now attract more
enrollment of grasslands
in the federal
breeding ducks than stops growing, he said, and kljeng.com 800 213 3860
prairie Canada. bulrushes favorable to
Conservation Reserve both broods and duck
“Ten years ago, that
Program. The grasslands hunters disappear.
would have been unheard
provided ample nesting “We could have used
of,” Devney said. “It’s
cover, the abundant some drying out and re-
driven breeding duck
shallow wetlands attracted flooding with some of our
populations just off the
breeding ducks and the temporary and seasonal
charts here in the
nutrient-rich water was wetlands,” Johnson said.
Dakotas.”
ideal for rearing broods. “It affected the submerged
In terms of wildlife, at
The result, Johnson said, aquatics like wild celery
least, it’s difficult to find a
was duck numbers North and widgeon grass that
loser in the wet cycle,
Dakota hadn’t seen since swans and canvasbacks
Johnson said.
the Game and Fish rely on.
“We saw record numbers
Department began its “A lot of traditional
of pheasants; we saw
annual duck and pond canvasback and swan lakes
record deer populations,”
count survey in 1948. In a just aren’t holding birds
Johnson said. “So many of
matter of years, nesting anymore.”
our species are wetland
success for species such as At the same time, more
dependent; pheasants
mallards rose from 15 water has meant more
depend on those wetlands
percent – barely enough to flood control
in the wintertime for
sustain the population – to impoundments. That’s a
cover. It’s hard to say there
rates that now are in the 30 mixed blessing for wildlife,
were too many negatives.”
to 40 percent range. Svedarsky said, because
One exception, he said,
“It was really the the impoundments tend to
was Hungarian partridge.
combination of the water quickly become choked
“Hungarian partridge
and CRP that created duck with cattails and other
don’t do very well in wet
breeding conditions like emergent vegetation if left
years,” Johnson said. “We
we hadn’t seen before,” unmanaged.
haven’t really seen the
Johnson said. “We had no The ideal wetland, which
partridge come back like
idea CRP was able to crank Svedarsky calls a “hemi-
they were in the ’80s. You
out the ducks it did once marsh,” is 50 percent
just don’t see many
the water hit. It was water and 50 percent
partridge anymore.”
unprecedented, and we vegetation.
had no idea it could Management issues “A lot of our wetlands
happen.” The water has presented are 90 percent-plus
Johnson said the wet a few challenges, as well. emergent vegetation –
cycle also was Dan Svedarsky, a natural especially hybrid cattails,”
unprecedented, surpassing resources professor at the he said. “That’s certainly
anything North Dakota University of Minnesota- not optimum for wetland
has experienced since Crookston, said the wet wildlife.” Get
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happened.” sharp-tailed grouse and to decline. By next fall,
short-eared owls, North Dakota will be down
Few losers Svedarsky said – and not to about 1.5 million acres –
For wildlife managers so good for prairie less than half what the
such as Johnson, the wet, chickens and other birds state had at its peak just a
grassy landscape proved that do best in open few years ago.
Mother Nature had no country. As more set-aside land
substitute when it came to “If prairies are getting returns to production,
putting wildlife on the brushier, that’s going to farmers will install more
ground. Back in the ’80s, benefit some wildlife drain tile to gain every

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PAGE 6 Irrigation Q & A
Following are some commonly asked
questions about irrigation in North Dakota.
A FORUM Answers come from the North Dakota State
COMMUNICATIONS University Extension Service, the U.S.
SPECIAL PROJECT Department of Agriculture and the U.S.
Geological Survey, which keeps track of water
SUNDAY, use across the country.
FEBRUARY 12, 2012 Q. How many farms in the state have
irrigated land?
A. Roughly 800 of the state’s 32,000 farms
irrigate some of their land.
Q. Why are some crops irrigated more often
than others?
A. Irrigation is best for “long-season” crops,
those harvested in September or later. Such
crops need considerable moisture in late July
and August, when rainfall often is scarce.
Q. What’s the difference between surface
irrigation and center-pivot irrigation?
A. The former takes surface water and uses
gravity to spread it out across farmland. The
latter takes either surface water or groundwater
and sprinkles it over crops. Center-pivot
irrigation accounts for 85 percent of irrigated
land in North Dakota.
Q. Is irrigation a big source of water
consumption in North Dakota?
A. Irrigation accounts for about 16 percent of
water consumption in North Dakota. Industrial
uses account for about 70 percent.
Q. What process do farmers go through
before they can irrigate?
A. They need to make sure their soils can be
irrigated safely. They must have a readily available
supply of nearby water and a water permit from
the State Water Commission. The water source
must provide sufficient quality and quantity for
successful irrigation.
Q. How much do sprinkler systems used in
irrigation cost?
A. Prices vary, depending on the type of
system. A center-pivot system that’s used in a
160-acre field and irrigates 128 acres costs
$103.78 per acre annually to own and operate.
– Jonathan Knutson

IRRIGATION
IRRIGATION
FACTOID
About 274,000 acres are
currently irrigated in North
Dakota, less than 1 percent
of the state’s cropland.
Really? Really
Irrigation provides a ‘fail-safe’ for Valley farmers
By Jonathan Knutson
Forum Communications Co.
Jon McMahon farms
sandy land with subsoil
that doesn’t hold moisture
well – land on which
thirsty crops can run out
of water quickly.
“We’re always 10 days
from a drought,” he said.
McMahon farms in
Inkster, N.D., about 40
miles northwest of Grand
Forks.
But McMahon has what
he calls a “fail-safe.” He
began irrigating in 1990
and now irrigates about a
third of his farmland.
Irrigation doesn’t
guarantee him good corn,
wheat, dry bean and
soybean crops; weather
hazards such as hail and
early frost sometimes
IT
smaller than regional
aquifers such as the
Ogallala Aquifer, which
extends from Texas to
South Dakota, said Jon
Patch of the State Water
Commission.
Glacial aquifers in North
Dakota “have very limited
storage capacity,” calling
into question their
reliability when there’s
less rainfall to recharge
them, he said.
Here’s the rub: The dry
conditions that would
encourage farmers to
Corn needs plentiful moisture, especially on hot, windy days in July and August, to reach make greater use of
its full yield potential. Nearly one-third of an inch daily is needed at peak times. Irrigation aquifers also could reduce
can provide the moisture when nature doesn't cooperate. Below is a look at corn’s daily the amount of water that
moisture requirements, in hundredths of an inch, in North Dakota, taking into account aquifers might provide.
temperature and corn’s growth stage. Why 1973 matters
Irrigation in North
Dakota can be divided into
Weeks after emerging from the soil two main eras: before 1973

damage his fields. But

irrigation gives him a
better shot at nice yields
and profits.
“It’s really good to have,”
he said.
For more than a century,
farmers in frequently dry
NEED
and after.
Before 1973, most
60-69 degrees .02 .03 .05 .05 .06 .08 .10 .12 .14 .14 .13 .13 .12 .11 .09 .07 .06 irrigation was in the
western part of the state.
70-79 degrees .03 .04 .06 .06 .09 .12 .14 .17 .19 .19 .19 .18 .17 .17 .13 .10 .08 Gravity was used to
irrigate fields with
80-89 degrees .04 .06 .08 .08 .11 .15 .19 .22 .24 .25 .24 .23 .22 .21 .20 .13 .10 Missouri River water.

North Dakota have looked After 1973, farmers

to irrigation.
Variable weather and
crop prices, as well as
improving technology,
cloud predictions about
irrigation’s future. But by
all accounts, demand for
irrigation will grow.
McMahon and others
involved in irrigation
agree on another point:
Irrigation brings money
into the state, benefiting
both farmers and
nonfarmers.
Irrigated farmland, on
average, provides a per-
acre economic return four
WE
90-99 degrees .05 .07 .10 .14 .18 .23 .27 .30 .30 .30 .29 .29 .27 .26 .25 .16 .12 statewide began
Source and photo by: North Dakota State University Extension Service Forum Communications irrigating, often with
water from aquifers.
Why the change? Credit,
“If we hit a in part, massive U.S. grain
drought or mini- sales to the former Soviet
North Dakota’s diverse soils and variable climate cause Union in the early 1970s.
drought again, farmers in the state to grow many different crops. So-called Grain prices skyrocketed,
long-season crops, or ones harvested in September or later, which made irrigation
there’s going to be are most likely to be irrigated because they can benefit greatly
more attractive.
a lot more interest from moisture on hot days in late July and August.
Farmers at the time
in irrigation.” North Dakota total: 272,600 irrigated acres in 2010 increasingly turned to a
center-pivot system, a
Thomas Scherer, North Alfalfa: 5.4%
form of overhead
Dakota State University Other crops: 4.7% irrigation in which
Barley: 3.8%
Extension agricultural Wheat: 10.6% equipment rotates around
engineer a pivot in the center of a
Sugarbeets: field. Water from a center-

4.3% Corn: pivot system can be

to five times higher than
the return on nonirrigated
fields, said Milton Lindvig,
field representative for the
North Dakota Irrigation
Association. The
association consists of
irrigation supporters,
including irrigators and
irrigation equipment
dealers and suppliers.
WHEN
36.6% controlled much more
Relatively high crop easily than water from
prices make irrigation Soybeans:
surface irrigation, Scherer
more appealing, too, 12.9%
said.
Lindvig of the irrigation “Center-pivot irrigation
association said. really has been a driver in
A rule of thumb is that North Dakota,” he said.
North Dakota farmers, on Potatoes: 10%
From 1900 to 1973, the
average, need to gross at Dry beans: number of irrigated acres
least $100 more per acre on Field grass: 3.3% 8.4%
in North Dakota grew to

Irrigation is “a win-win irrigated land to cover 73,000. By the late 1980s,

for everyone,” McMahon
said.
Maybe not now, but …
The region’s nearly two-
decade wet period has
dampened farmers’
interest in irrigation.
The amount of irrigated
farmland in the state is
growing, on balance, by
only 2,000 to 3,000 acres
annually, said Thomas
Scherer, North Dakota
State University Extension
agricultural engineer, who
has 30 years of experience
with irrigation. In a state
with roughly 28 million
WATER
Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency
irrigation cost. after the arrival of center-
It’s much easier to reach Forum Communications
pivot irrigation, about
that break-even point 210,000 acres were
when corn is selling at irrigated, a threefold
current prices, roughly $5 increase in less than two
to $5.50 per bushel in late decades.
2011, instead of the $2 to Potatoes gave a further
$2.50 per bushel corn had boost to irrigation in the
been bringing, McMahon late 1980s and early 1990s,
said. when poor commodity
New technology also prices limited interest in
makes irrigation more
irrigating other crops.
attractive by allowing
Processors such as
water to be applied more
Simplot were looking for a
efficiently, he said.
reliable supply of
Nobody has a good
potatoes, which led
handle on how many acres
farmers to begin growing
might be irrigated
irrigated spuds in parts of
statewide in, say, five to 10
the state where the crop
years. There are just too

acres under cultivation,
that’s a drop in the bucket.
SECTION 3
many variables. But
Lindvig described the
Source: North Dakota Department of Commerce Division of Economic
hadn’t been grown
Development and Finance
previously, said Chuck

About 274,000 acres are Forum Communications

currently irrigated, less
than 1 percent of the
state’s cropland.
Even with the wet
period, however, farmers
in relatively dry pockets of
the state are interested in
further irrigation, Scherer
said.
“If we hit a drought or
mini-drought again,
there’s going to be a lot
more interest in
irrigation,” Scherer said.
A dry fall has left much
of North Dakota in low-
level drought, according to
the U.S. Drought Monitor
Index, an Omaha-based
partnership of federal and
academic scientists.
potential as
“considerable.”
The Missouri River
could supply enough water
to irrigate an additional
80,000 to 140,000 acres, he
said. That would be equal
to 29 to 51 percent of the
acres now irrigated.
Farmers outside the
Missouri River Corridor
have the potential to
increase irrigated acreage.
Producers in northeastern
North Dakota might be
able to draw on several
rivers for additional
irrigation, Lindvig said.
Underground water, or
groundwater, is important
for irrigation, too.
Currently, groundwater
and surface water each
account for about half of
the water allocated
annually for irrigation in
North Dakota, although all
the allocated water isn’t
always used, according to
the State Water
Commission.
Groundwater typically
accounts for a little more
than half of the water
actually used in irrigation,
with the percentage
varying annually.
All groundwater used for
irrigation in North Dakota
comes from aquifers,
underground layers of
rock or soil that contain
water. They are not,
contrary to popular
imagination, vast
underground rivers.
Aquifers are found across
much of North Dakota.
The State Water
Commission issues
permits to use water from
aquifers for irrigation.
Water levels can fluctuate
in the aquifers, especially
in times of drought, which
affects how many permits
are issued.
North Dakota’s glacially
derived aquifers are much
Gunnerson, president of
the Northern Plains
Potato Growers
Association in East Grand
Forks, Minn.
Thanks in part to
potatoes, the number of
irrigated acres in North
Dakota rose to about
245,000 in 2002. Since then,
because of the wet period,
the growth in irrigated
acres has been sluggish.
Despite the current wet,
farmers and others across
the state recognize that
irrigation is important
and here to stay, McMahon
said.
“It’s accepted,” he said.
Jonathan Knutson reports for Agweek.

A tanker truck heads north on North Dakota Highway 23.
Oil boom needs
torrents of water
Army Corps says industrial users must pay
By Patrick Springer
pspringer@forumcomm.com
BISMARCK – It takes a torrent of
water to keep the oil flowing in
North Dakota’s oil fields.
Drilling a well consumes an
average of 3 million gallons of
water – most of it hauled by fleets
of trucks that pound roads and
highways, clog traffic and belch
diesel exhaust.
In fact, of the 1,200 truckloads
required to drill a single well, more
than a third, 450, are filled with
water, vital for pumping oil.
Water is mixed with chemicals
and pumped deep underground to
free oil from shale formations, a
process called hydraulic
fracturing, or “fracking.”
But an immense source of water
lies strategically in the heart of the
booming Bakken Formation in
western North Dakota – Lake
Sakakawea.
If tapped, water from the
reservoir on the Missouri River
could help reduce truck traffic and
serve as an alternative to drawing
down aquifers.
Yet that source of water is off-
limits to oil and gas development.
Alarmed by the rapid growth in
the water-intensive petroleum
industry, the Army Corps of
Engineers has placed a hold on
issuing water-use permits for the
reservoir.
The corps is studying long-term
water demand and supply to
ensure no shortage develops from
the thirsty oil and gas industry.
The corps’ position, still under
review: Industries that use water
from Lake Sakakawea must pay.
The freeze and proposed water
fee, which surfaced in summer
2010, drew angry protests not only
from the oil and gas industry but
from North Dakota’s political
leaders.
They see the move as the latest in
a litany of setbacks over decades
that have largely thwarted the
state’s efforts to tap its most
valuable water resource.
How valuable?
Consider that the total combined
yearly flow of North Dakota’s other
major rivers – the Red River at
Fargo, the Sheyenne River at
Valley City, the James River at
Jamestown and the Souris River in
Minot – equal about 4 percent of
the Missouri River’s yearly flow at
Bismarck.
“The Missouri River is a
virtually untapped resource that
presents a unique opportunity for
development and use in the state’s
future,” the State Water
Commission stated in a position
paper.
The key word is future.
Promises, promises
Massive farm irrigation projects,
as well as municipal and industrial
water supply, were promised in
return for North Dakota’s
sacrifices to enable two major
dams on the Missouri River.
North Dakota landowners lost
550,000 acres, land set aside for
Garrison Dam’s Lake Sakakawea,
which begins 75 miles north of
Bismarck, and the reservoir for the
Oahe Dam in South Dakota.
A massive permanent flood came
with the reservoirs. In return,
North Dakota has received
millions of federal dollars for
municipal, rural and industrial
water supply.
“Aquifers in that western part of the state are very
limited. They’re basically little, small bank accounts.”
Bob Shaver, hydrologist and head of North Dakota’s water appropriations
But the state still waits for water
projects that were to be the
keystone payoff for Garrison.
After waiting for more than five
decades for Missouri River water
to augment local supplies in times
of prolonged drought, Red River
Valley communities such as Fargo
and Grand Forks still wait for a
project to be approved.
Meanwhile, a project to carry
Missouri River water to the Minot
area is stalled, held up by a
Canadian lawsuit alleging
environmental harm would result
in the Souris River watershed.
Oil and gas, the roaring engine
driving North Dakota’s robust
economy and job growth, have now
joined the list of users waiting for
Missouri River water.
The rationale for the corps’
proposal to make users pay for
water drawn from Lake Sakakawea
is that it costs money to store water
in the reservoir. It calculates the
cost at $2 million a year.
North Dakota officials find that
argument galling.
The state asserts that the water
that would be drawn from Lake
Sakakawea flows naturally in the
Missouri River, so no stored water
would be tapped.
“We have a right to the natural
flows,” says Todd Sando, the state
engineer for North Dakota.
“There’s enough natural flow
that we should be able to take the
water out,” he adds.
A 2010 report for the North
Dakota Petroleum Council, the
voice of the industry, said water
the oil and gas industry would take
from the Missouri River is
miniscule.
It estimated the maximum
amount of water consumed per
year for oil development would
equal about one-tenth of 1 percent
of the Missouri River’s daily flow
past Bismarck.
Also, a series of congressional
acts stemming from the 1944 law
that provided for Garrison Dam
have recognized North Dakota’s
right to Missouri River water and
the state’s need for water
development, state officials argue.
The corps ended up agreeing
with that argument, state officials
note, when it concluded last June
that a water project in Emmons
County was authorized by a 1986
law reauthorizing the Garrison
Diversion Project.
Therefore, the corps’ policy of
charging for stored surplus water
didn’t apply – a decision North
Dakota officials contend should
extend to the Lake Sakakawea
dispute.
The issue is significant because
only 79 miles of free-flowing
Missouri River remain in North
Dakota.
The rest of the river runs within
Lake Sakakawea and Lake Oahe,
where access to the water is
controlled by the corps.
“We need to get to the Missouri
River, and our federal government
is blocking us,” Sando says.
More is at stake than oil and gas
development.
Almost half of the Lake
Sakakawea water used in the past
two decades has been for farm
irrigation, Sando says.
But many of the easements
allowing the use of that water
expire in the next 10 years,
meaning those farmers then could
be charged $20.91 per acre-foot of
water – an amount Sando says
would have “tremendous impacts
to our agricultural economy.”
The corps adopted the storage fee
policy in 2008 – just when North
Dakota’s Oil Patch really started to
boom, state officials note – but
didn’t move to impose the fee until
two years later.
The possibility that North
Dakota users would have to pay
almost $1 billion over time for Lake
Sakakawea water, Sando’s
estimated total, is an outcome he
finds bitter.
That would be many times the
$59 million the corps paid property
owners in relocations, land
purchases and damage costs when
the dam was built in the early
1950s.
All for Missouri River water the
state points out exists regardless of
whether any of it happens to be
stored by Garrison Dam.
Growing demand
One large water supply project is
charging ahead in North Dakota’s
Oil Patch despite the feud over
access to Lake Sakakawea.
West Area Water Supply, with a
price tag of $150 million, is on the
fast track to deliver Missouri River
water to four northwestern
counties starting in 2013.
The pipeline project is backed by
$110 million in financing from the
state, but ultimately will be paid
for by delivery fees charged to the
petroleum industry.
The project can proceed because
it will draw water from the intake
for the city of Williston, which taps
the free-flowing Missouri River,
and therefore is not under the
control of the corps.
Pipelines branching from the
Williston water treatment plant,
which will double in capacity, will
deliver water to locations in
McKenzie, Williams, Mountrail
and Divide counties.
“We’ve always considered water
to be an economic development
piece,” says Gene Veeder, economic
development director for McKenzie
County, which includes Watford
City.
Homes, ranches and businesses
dotting the region’s semi-arid
rangeland often rely on
groundwater, usually high in
minerals, that must be treated.
But the need for water suddenly
became urgent with the oil boom.
In fact, the rapid growth – as oil
field roustabouts, construction
workers, truck drivers and others
flock to the area – makes it
difficult to predict how much
residential water will be needed,
Veeder says.
“It’s one of those things, it’s
growing so fast we’ve
underdesigned everything for the
past three years,” he says.
Once operating, West Area Water
Supply will help reduce the heavy
truck traffic in the Oil Patch.
The corps acknowledges the
environmental benefit of reducing
Eric Hylden / Forum Communications Co.
PAGE 7
A FORUM
COMMUNICATIONS
SPECIAL PROJECT
SUNDAY,
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
Lake Sakakawea is strategically
located in the heart of the
Bakken Formation.
Lake Sakakawea
Minot
Fargo
Bismarck
Bakken Formation
Source: N.D. State Water Commission
Forum Communications
truck traffic by using a water
pipeline.
The rapid and unpredictable
growth in oil development,
however, is the corps’ justification
for a detailed study of the
petroleum industry’s future water
demand.
State oil and gas officials predict
2,500 new oil wells will be drilled
yearly for the next 15 to 25 years.
The state estimates the Oil
Patch’s annual water demand to be
the equivalent of a lake 1 foot deep
spread over 22,400 acres.
Lake Sakakawea, with a surface
covering 368,000 acres, can hold
24 million acre-feet of water.
Alone, it holds almost a third of
all of the water in the chain of six
Missouri River dam reservoirs.
Finding water
So far oil drilling has gone
unhindered by the squabble over
Lake Sakakawea water.
The unusually wet weather,
which produced the historic flood
of 2011 on the Missouri River, has
made more surface water
temporarily available from ponds
and sloughs.
The State Water Commission has
issued permits allowing oil firms
to tap water from those sources.
In a few cases, with careful
monitoring, water officials have
allowed oil firms to tap aquifers in
northwest North Dakota.
“Aquifers in that western part of
the state are very limited,” says
Bob Shaver, a hydrologist and head
of the state’s water appropriations.
“They’re basically little, small
bank accounts.”
Aquifers were formed by glacial
melt waters thousands of years
ago.
Excess pumping can deplete an
aquifer or degrade the water
quality by drawing in water from
surrounding bedrock.
“We have to develop it in
increments, and we have to
monitor it,” Shaver says. “It’s a
conservative approach to water
development.”
Piping or hauling water from
Lake Sakakawea would be a far
better solution, he adds.
“The oil companies will pay for
it,” Shaver says. “That’s not a show
stopper.”
Ron Ness, president of the North
Dakota Petroleum Council, agrees
the industry will be able to find
water.
“I don’t think it slows
development,” he says. “What it
does is, it creates a lot more truck
traffic and a lot more impacts.”
Of Lake Sakakawea, he adds, “If
you were able to tap that water, it’s
less than an inch a year off that
lake.”
The corps, originally expected to
make a decision before the
Missouri River flooded last
summer, still is weighing public
comments before making a final
decision.
Ness isn’t the first to note the
irony of the dispute coinciding
with a time of catastrophic water
surplus – some of which ended up
in homes in places like Bismarck
during the flood.
“If they want to charge us for
storing water in Lake Sakakawea,”
he says, “maybe we should charge
them for storing it in our
basements.”
Readers can reach Forum reporter
Patrick Springer at (701) 241-5522

PAGE 8
A FORUM
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SUNDAY,
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
LOWEST
RED RIVER
LEVELS IN FARGO
(1) 0.00 ft on 01/01/1932
(2) 0.00 ft on 09/30/1970
(3) 0.00 ft on 10/01/1970
(4) 0.00 ft on 10/10/1976
(5) 5.30 ft on 12/02/1910
LOWEST
RED RIVER
LEVEL IN
GRAND FORKS The Red River in 1910, showing the railroad bridge connecting Fargo and Moorhead, taken from below NP Avenue.
0.10 ft on 09/02/1977
Source: National Weather Service
By Marino Eccher
and Patrick Springer
Forum Communications Co.
FARGO – When it surges beyond
its banks and clashes with levies
and sandbag walls, the headlines
call the Red a “river on the
rampage.” But for a few drought-
baked months in the 1930s, it was a
river in retreat, dwindling to a
trickle and for a stretch coming to
a halt altogether.
Fish were trapped in scattered
pools. Pedestrians crossed between
Fargo and Moorhead via planks set
in the mud. Water scarcity defined
weekly routines.
It may seem like a foreign
concept for a region that’s been
besieged by wet weather for nearly
two decades, but it’s only a matter
of time before it happens again.
Droughts like those that
devastated America’s heartland in
the “Dirty Thirties” are not at all
unusual for the region. And one
study determined a repeat could
IT
strike before 2050.
Officials in the region say that
could be harder on the region than
the record floods of recent years.
“It’s always been a question of, do
we have too much water or not
enough?” said Pat Zavoral, Fargo
city administrator. “We have to
NEED
give equal time to not only our
flood protection but also what
happens if we don’t have adequate
water.
With that in mind, Red River
Valley communities have long been
trying without success to line up a
supplemental water supply.
Before the 1997 flood, water
supply was a bigger concern than
flood control in Fargo. A severe
drought in 1988 that slowed the Red
to a crawl – after another in 1976
that halted the river altogether –
had officials thinking about
backup plans.
Flooding swept those efforts to
the back burner but didn’t stop
them completely. The Lake Agassiz
WE
Water Authority, a consortium of
local governments in 13 Red River
Valley counties, has been working
since 2003 to solve the water supply
problem.
The preferred solution: a
$660 million project that would use
a canal and pipeline to divert
Missouri River water to the
Sheyenne River.
The proposal has the state’s
backing and has been endorsed by
WHEN
the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
But it’s been stalled since 2007,
stymied by the federal budget
crisis and bureaucratic inertia.
A dam, a plan, a canal
The Red River Valley Water
Supply Project, as the proposal is
officially called, is an offshoot of
the now-defunct Garrison
Diversion Project, which has its
origins in the 1944 law that
authorized Garrison Dam and
other dams on the Missouri River.
“That’s one item that’s been on
North Dakota’s agenda since the
dams were constructed,” said Dave
Koland, general manager of the
Garrison Diversion Conservancy
District, which is administering
the water supply project.
WATER
Actually, North Dakota has eyed
diverting the Missouri eastward
SECTION 3
even longer – since it became a
state in 1889.
The Garrison Diversion Project
was designed to divert water from
the Missouri to central and eastern
North Dakota for a number of
uses, including irrigation, water
supply, and fish and wildlife
conservation.
Work on the project started in the
1960s. It stalled in the face of
disputes and environmental
opposition, and was abandoned
altogether in 2000.
But a few key components were
completed. The new water supply
project would use two of those
components: the Snake Creek
Pumping Plant on the east side of
Lake Sakakawea and the McClusky
Canal, which loops east from Lake
Audubon.
A man uses a board to cross the Red River between downtown
Fargo and Moorhead in this 1936 photo.
When Red
runs dry
Sometimes the river retreats,
leaving its cities to scramble
The project would pump water
out of Lake Sakakawea, bringing it
59 miles east in the canal, then
another 123 miles via underground
pipeline to Lake Ashtabula on the
Sheyenne River.
The lake, which is already the
backup source for Fargo and other
cities, would serve as a reservoir
for participating cities to draw on
in dry times.
“It’s an insurance policy,” said
Hazel Sletten, superintendent for
water utilities in Grand Forks.
Worse than a flood
Sletten remembers the 1988
drought well. Grand Forks had just
expanded the capacity of its water
treatment plant to 16.5 million
gallons per day, but pushed the
plant to treat 17.5 million – all
while the city was using 22 million
a day.
Given the city’s growth since
then, a shortage could affect
critical operations ranging from
industrial users to firefighting
services, she said. Grand Forks
has about 3,500 more residents
today than it did during the last
drought.
“You don’t want to be running
100 percent every day for an
extended period of time,” she said.
“You’re right on the edge.”
A prolonged, major drought, she
said, “would be worse” than a
flood.
It would be even more of a strain
on Fargo, which has about 22,000
more residents than it did during
the 1988 drought. Moorhead has
about 6,000 more.
For Fargo, which draws all of its
water from the Red, a drought of
the magnitude of the 1930s would
mean hauling in about 1,200
truckloads of water every day to
meet basic needs, according to one
study.
Zavoral, the Fargo city
administrator, said the city has
kept the possibility of a drought in
mind even as flood protection has
dominated the conversation.
“There’s an awareness that at
any time, we could have to shift,”
he said, pointing to last year’s dry
fall and early winter. “We have to
give equal time to not only our
flood protection but also what
Clay County Historical Society
That left the state and water
authority to mull trying to go
happens if we don’t have enough
water.”
But a solution like the proposed
Missouri transfer won’t
materialize overnight. Even if
everything fell into place
tomorrow, Zavoral said, it would
take about four years to complete.
“We couldn’t wait four years if
the Red River were to run dry,” he
said.
Funding challenges
And everything has not yet fallen
into place.
In some respects, the project has
moved along. Federal, state and
local governments have spent
about $26 million so far in
developing the project, including
an environmental impact
statement, engineering studies and
right-of-way acquisition. More
than three-fourths of the right-of-
way easements for the pipeline
have been obtained.
Officials won’t go further until
the project gets the go-ahead from
federal officials.
The federal government has yet
to issue a critical document called
the record of decision. Initially,
North Dakota officials were told
the obstacle was the Bush
administration’s Office of
Management and Budget, which
blanched at the project’s
$660 million price tag.
At the outset, state and local
officials thought the extensive
environmental impact study,
completed in December 2007, would
be the biggest hurdle.
Canada and Minnesota have for
years opposed the transfer of
Missouri River water to the Red
River watershed, fearing transfer
of non-native invasive species. The
review concluded that water from
the Missouri River and transferred
to the Red River, would not spread
organisms if filtered and treated.
But new obstacles have arisen –
the federal budget crunch, and the
prospect that any project would
have to win congressional
authorization.
Plans called for the $660 million
cost to be divided roughly equally
between the federal government,
state and local governments, or
$220 million at each level.
Institute for Regional Studies, NDSU, Fargo
Then-Gov. John Hoeven pledged
to work to provide the state’s share.
The city of Fargo, the biggest user,
would pay about half of the local
share, and would use about half of
the water.
The federal contribution,
however, has collided with a
ballooning federal deficit and a
renewed push for budget austerity.
In 2009, then-Sen. Byron Dorgan,
D-N.D., warned state and local
officials that he could not press for
both the water supply project and
the proposed $1.7 billion metro
diversion project.
Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker
said the choice put the city
“between a rock and a hard place,”
but permanent flood protection
emerged as the consensus top
choice.
Going it alone
forward with the project without
federal help.
“We’re thinking, are there other
ways to do this?” Zavoral said. He
said the city is working with
Garrison Diversion and the
governor’s office to come up with a
workable plan.
The project’s backers have
weighed alternatives such as
groundwater from the Red River
Basin or from Minnesota. Koland
of the Garrison Diversion
Conservancy District said those
options are hampered by a lack of
quality groundwater in the region
and high costs of treatment.
The Dakota Sandstone aquifer
north of Fargo, for instance, was
considered as a source. But the cost
of treating the aquifer’s water
pushed that option’s total
estimated cost to $1.1 billion.
“We’re going to go back and look
at these things,” Koland said. “Did
we look at everything? Is there new
information?”
However, based on earlier
studies, “I think we will find most
of these other options are cost-
prohibitive,” he said.
At minimum, state and local
officials believe the federal
government should at least pay the
estimated $120 million cost for a
treatment plant.
“Ultimately, we’re going to have
to ask Congress to fund that
project,” Bruce Furness, former
Fargo mayor and chairman of the
Lake Agassiz Water Authority, said
of the treatment plant.
He said the plant is needed to
meet boundary water treaty
obligations the U.S. government
has with Canada.
The project is also trying to cut
through a catch-22 of red tape: The
Bureau of Reclamation maintains
it needs congressional
authorization to use Missouri
River water, for a project that
doesn’t yet have the
administration’s final OK.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers announced in
December 2010 that it wants to
charge a storage fee for water
taken from Lake Sakakawea.
The state of North Dakota
opposes the charge, insisting the
water it proposes to draw for water
supply uses is from the Missouri
River’s natural flows, which state
officials assert North Dakota has a
legal right to use without charge.
And the project must remain
affordable for water users in Fargo,
rural Cass County, Grand Forks
and elsewhere in the valley – who,
in the case of Fargo and Cass
County, might also have to help pay
for the $1.7 billion diversion
channel.
“Are they going to have enough
for this project?” Furness asked.
“It’s really up in the air at this
point.”
Amid the questions without
answers, one thing is certain,
Furness said:
“We’ll have another drought at
some point.”
Marino Eccher and Patrick Springer
report for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead.