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Luverne, Rural Water sign on for more Lewis and Clark capacity

By
Lori Sorenson

The city of Luverne and Rock County Rural Water are committing to more water from the Lewis & Clark Regional Water system.
The City Council and the County Board considered the opportunity at their respective meetings and agreed to commit to the added capacity.
For Luverne, it will increase the city’s access to the system by more than 50 percent.
The city is currently contracted for 821,000 gallons of water per day. The new agreement would increase Luverne’s daily capacity by 477,000 gallons per day, for a total of nearly 1.3 million gallons per day.
Rock County Rural Water currently reserves a Lewis and Clark capacity of 300,000 gallons per day. The agreement increases that allotment by 174,000 gallons per day for a total capacity of 474,000 gallons per day.
For Luverne, the expansion will cost about $3 million, which will be paid at the time of the expansion, likely within 10 years.
The preliminary cost to sign up for the expansion is a down payment of approximately $25,000, which is Luverne’s 3-percent cost of the engineering design. This needs to be paid by the end of the year.
For Rock County Rural Water’s increased allotment, the county will pay $976,681; the down payment for engineering is $7,000.
 
‘No brainer’ decision
Lewis and Clark pumps water from a series of wells that tap into an aquifer adjacent to the Missouri River. The pipeline serves 20 members — 15 cities and five rural water systems — in the tri-state area. 
The original capacity was 23.5 million gallons per day, but members reserved additional capacity to expand the system at their cost to 45 million gallons a day.
Now Lewis and Clark is seeking to expand from 45 million gallons per day to 60 million gallons per day for its entire system, an increase of 15.81 million gallons per day.
The Lewis and Clark Board of Directors needs to know by Jan. 1, 2022, which members want to sign up for the increased capacity. At this point all 20 members have indicated that they want to be a part of the expansion.
According to discussion at the Oct. 26 city meeting, the decision was a “no brainer” to commit to more water.
“The city of Luverne needs to plan for the future with regard to industrial expansion, population growth, and other factors that lead to increased water usage,” Luverne Mayor Pat Baustian said.
“It is prudent at this time to commit to the expansion.”
He said Lewis and Clark’s water use at the Vermillion, South Dakota, plant shows that the expansion is needed.
“The plant can kick out 30.2 million gallons per day, and I think one day they hit 30 million,” Baustian said. “They were pushing the pumps hard.”
 
Sustainable water source
Councilwoman Caroline Thorson asked about the long-term availability of water from the Missouri River. “Can Lewis and Clark sustain the commitment through their source of water?” she asked.
Baustian said South Dakota’s DNR and other officials consider Lewis and Clark’s draw on the aquifer to be sustainable.
“The wells pull less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the Missouri River flow (at its current capacity) going by the wellfields at any one time,” Baustian said.
“There’s actually more water lost on the river to evaporation than we [Lewis and Clark] pull out at 45 million gallons per day. That river could be looking dry, but the water in the aquifer will be there.”
Council members discussed communities in the Southwest that are facing a water shortage amid a 10-year drought and a dwindling Colorado River.
“If that doesn’t make you realize why we should secure our water now …,” Baustian said.
“It took over 25 years for us to get Lewis and Clark. I think to secure water for the guaranteed growth of the city of Luverne for the future is very important.”
 
Federal infrastructure legislation fully funds Lewis and Clark
The federal “Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act” provides $132 million in funding for Lewis and Clark Regional Water, which will fully fund the project to date.
Included in that amount is $54 million to repay the states of Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa which covered the federal share of the project that fell short in previous bonding bills.
The bipartisan bill was passed by the Senate on Aug. 10 by a vote of 69–30, and on Nov 5, it was passed by the House by a vote of 228–206.
The $1.2 trillion bill now heads to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

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