Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Western States Water Council <br />Full Council Minutes <br /> <br />Sioux Falls, South Dakota <br />May 4, 2007 <br /> <br />nonpoint source funds; and USDA Environmental Quality Improvement Program funds; and (3) promoting <br />voluntary, locally led watershed projects. <br /> <br />In summarizing South Dakota's water challenges, Steve noted water demands will increase and <br />meeting demands can be difficult due to the lack of water, population growth, changing demographics, and <br />increased recreational use. Potential solutions require money, technology, and people with the training, <br />expertise, and experience to deal with water issues now and in the future. <br /> <br />This is one of the reasons we continue to support the Western States Water Council, and for that I <br />commend you. <br /> <br />REPORT ON MISSOURI RIVER RESTORATION <br /> <br />Mary Roth, Project Manager for the Missouri River Recovery Implementation Committee (MRRIC), <br />with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Northwest Division, described its origins and evolution. The <br />Missouri River Basin Pick-Sloan Program includes multiple congressionally authorized project purposes: <br />flood control, navigation, hydropwer, irrigation, recreation, water supply, water quality, and fish and wildlife. <br /> <br />Fort Peck reservoir in Montana was a new deal project authorized in 1938. In 1944, Congress <br />authorized the Pick Sloan Missouri Basin Program as a general comprehensive plan for the conservation, <br />control and use of the Missouri River, coordinating plans of the Corps and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. <br />Other program units were later authorized, as was bank stabilization work between Sioux City and St. Louis, <br />as well as navigation channel river straightening. Congress continues to authorize and appropriates money <br />for Missouri River work. <br /> <br />Ms. Roth reiterated the basin runoff pattern, largely dependent on snowmelt (rainfall 25%, plains <br />snowmelt 25% and mountain snowmelt 50%), which creates a strong Spring pulse. The Corps is now trying <br />to recreate or mimic the natural pulse to protect endangered and threatened species. There has been little <br />plains snowmelt this season, and below average (76%) mountain snow pack. "We need rain!" <br /> <br />She compared the drought of 1987-1993 to 2000-2006, and noted conditions continue to decline. <br />The maximum storage capacity ofthe Missouri River reservoirs is 73.3 Maf and ideal storage is 57 Maf, with <br />flood space and enough water for navigation. The Flood of 1993 refilled the system in five months, not the <br />five years that had been predicted. The present drought has precluded the ideal navigation storage level. <br /> <br />Congress authorized navigation as a primary project purpose, and Missouri river barges used to ply <br />the river from St. Louis, Missouri to Fort Benton, Montana. A nine-foot draft channel, by 300 feet wide, is <br />mostly self scouring. In addition, there are 36 hydropower units on six Missouri River dams. Power revenues <br />are used to repay the Federal Treasury, and are marketed by the Western Area Power Administration <br />(W APA). Irrigation wasn't fully developed, and there are no federal irrigation projects. However, the <br />recreation explosion has produced an unexpected benefit. Water supply and water quality are other important <br />benefits. The Missouri is a source of drinking water for many tribes and small communities. There are 25 <br />powerplants drawing cooling water from the Missouri. It is also home to the endangered and threatened <br />pallid sturgeon, interior least tern and piping plover, which nest on sandbars. The sturgeon is an ancient fish <br />and they live to be 6O-years old. <br /> <br />5 <br />