A major state water provider has received the go-ahead from the state to tap more water from the Missouri River.
WEB wateris a rural water system service provider that serves thousands of customers in northeastern South Dakota.
The state Water Management Board unanimously granted the company’s request for a future-use permit to reserve more water annually from the Missouri River. This is WEB’s fourth future-use permit allocation of water by the board.
Mark Rath is a state Water-Rights Engineer. He introduced the application to the board.
“The applicant proposes to reserve for future-use 10,000 acre-feet of water annually from the Missouri River near Mobridge. WEB serves 14 counties in South Dakota on the northern portion of the eastern part of South Dakota and three counties in North Dakota,” said Rath.
Tim Bjork is a Water Management Board member. He indirectly questioned Rath.
“We get a request from Lewis and Clark for 19,000, we get a request from WEB for 10,000. Do we have any kind of overall plan for the use of water from the Missouri River? Is there something out there that regulates any of this?" asked Bjork.
Eric Gronlund is the State Water-Rights Chief Engineer. He assured Bjork there is state oversight on how much water rights are given.
“From a water allocation aspect, again, I'll go back to 'we follow the law.' When somebody files it, we look at those four criteria in state law. The one thing that we’re in South Dakota, and North Dakota for that matter, are blessed with is the Missouri River. I think we may tap less than 0.4 of a percent of the water that passes through South Dakota,” said Gronlund.
WEB said their primary focus is serving South Dakota. They said is not uncommon, however, for a state’s water system to serve other states as well.
They said there are water systems in North Dakota and Minnesota that serve rural counties in South Dakota.
