New federal funds earmarked for SD rural water projects / Public News Service

Some rural South Dakotans struggle to get good drinking water but the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has awarded two local communities with grants to help change it.

Nearly $13 million in WaterSMART Drought Resiliency grants are slated for projects in Eagle Butte and Day County. The Mni Wašté Water Company, run by the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, will receive $2.8 million to pipe water 10 miles northwest of the community to supply 17 existing residences and 20 being constructed.

Leo Fischer, executive director, Mni Wašté Water Company and enrolled member of Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, said the water company started planning this project in 1993 and in the meantime, the people living there have had to haul their water.

“It’s more of a pain than it is anything, because you haul it in the back of a vehicle,” Fischer pointed out. “In the wintertime, everything freezes up.”

Piped water is important in the region, because area groundwater wells are of poor quality, must run deep into the ground and have proven unreliable.

To the east, the WEB Water Development Association is slated to receive nearly $10 million to build about 40 miles of pipeline, supplying more than 700 people with drinking water in the city of Waubay and in rural Day County.

Shane Phillips, general manager of the association, said it feels ironic to be doing a project in Day County, which is known for having ample water.

“It’s the true quality of the water that’s not great in Day County,” Phillips observed. “There’s total dissolved solids. It’s really high in minerals.”

Phillips added the company hopes to break ground in 2025 on its project piping and treating potable water from the Missouri River. The Bureau of Reclamation has made WaterSMART grants in 11 states this year.

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The Duck River, which flows through seven Middle Tennessee counties, has made a national list of “most endangered” rivers.

The group American Rivers compiles the list annually and said escalating development and multiple uses are stretching the Duck River’s water supply.

Grace Stranch, CEO of Harpeth Conservancy, said the river is home to more than 150 types of fish, 56 mussel species and 22 snail species. She cautioned its ecosystem is at a tipping point, prompted by population and industry growth.

“Ecologically on the river, when we look, we’re already seeing mussel strandings. And that means that there’s not enough water, and mussels have to have water. And so, they’re being what we say is ‘stranded,’ so they don’t have the water to survive,” Stranch outlined. “We’re already seeing this at the current levels.”

Stranch’s group has made a three-part recommendation to Gov. Bill Lee. It’s asking to form an expert stakeholder group to assess water studies for the river, create a comprehensive, long-term water use plan, and allocate enough funding based on scientific data to ensure the river’s protection.

Stranch pointed out the Duck River is a drinking water source for nearly 250,000 people in the region. She emphasized the need to choose between conservation and potential collapse in the face of the area’s growing water demands.

“You have to provide drinking water for all of these new people. You have to have all these new hookups for these developments,” Stranch explained. “That drinking water comes from somewhere. And most people don’t realize in Tennessee, the majority of our drinking water, around 60%, comes from river sources in some way, shape or form.”

Stranch added her group is especially concerned about the effects of overuse during droughts. She noted the Duck is also the backbone of the local outdoor recreation economy for anglers, boaters and kayakers, with more than 150,000 people using the river and its tributaries for recreation each year.

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As water scarcity affects states across the West, a Utah community is getting funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help support its water reuse and drought resilience projects.

The Washington County Water Conservancy District in St. George received over $20 million in funding for its $1 billion regional reuse water system.

Zach Renstrom, Washington County Water Conservancy District general manager, said it will include new and expanded water treatment facilities, new reservoirs and many miles of pipeline and multiple pump stations.

“A lot of the initial funds will just go to the design portion of it, designing these large facilities. But we can also start using some of that money for construction. So there is a match to it – they match up to 25%. We’re proceeding forward now, so it’s exciting to have all these funds,” he said.

He added water recycling plays a crucial role in improving water supplies, especially across the arid West. Renstrom called wastewater a reliable source for reuse. Once the water from showers and toilets has been purified and tested, it is safe and can be used in a variety of ways, like at parks or for irrigation. While it could be safe to drink, he said more treatment would be necessary.

Put simply, Renstrom said, the West needs more water and reuse is playing an important role in helping communities develop local, drought-resistant water supplies for the future. He contends in the past, waste water wasn’t seen as an asset, but due to technology and the improved treatment methods that are now available, that has changed.

“It wasn’t really looked at seriously several years ago. Now it’s really becoming much more feasible to tap into this resource that hasn’t been tapped into in the past,” he explained.

Renstrom added the reuse system will also mean more jobs for the region and is just one way Washington County is aiming to secure its water supply. The district’s conservation plan is also leading the way by offering rebates for home and business improvements that will save consumers water and money.

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What might seem like an under-the-radar administrative task could end up being a lifesaver for Minnesota waterways in need of safeguards against agricultural runoff.

Lawmakers have paved the way for a crucial list to be updated. In this year’s legislative session, a change was made to clarify the definition of public waters, and funding was provided for a several-year process to update Minnesota’s Public Waters Inventory.

Carly Griffity, water program director for the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, said these moves mean more lakes and streams will likely qualify for required stretches of vegetation, known as buffer strips, to keep pollutants such as nitrates out of the water.

“It really is a real-world issue that impacts communities,” she said.

The law change stemmed from a legal case about a western Minnesota creek that reached the state Supreme Court. The list update was a compromise with agricultural groups seeking certainty for farmers as they plan land use. Lawmakers also increased penalties for violators of buffer-strip requirements. The collective action follows substantial growth in large livestock operations in Minnesota since 1991.

While her organization applauded these moves, Griffith suggested there’s more to do to limit pollutants from reaching water sources.

“We have data from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency that [show] on average, cropland drain tile contributes about 70% of nitrogen to Minnesota’s surface waters,” she said, “and in some areas of the state, like the Minnesota River Valley, that number is even higher.”

She referred to subsurface drainage from farms that bypass buffer strips. The state has carried out other strategies to slow fertilizer runoff, but not all efforts have been successful. Recently, the federal Environmental Protection Agency ordered Minnesota to be more aggressive in addressing this problem in the southeastern part of the state.

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