Rural Water to use some of Luverne's unused Lewis and Clark water

Rock County Rural Water will purchase Lewis and Clark water from the city of Luverne, per an agreement worked out Monday night.
Luverne has been using only two-thirds of its contracted water through the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System, which pipes water from the Missouri River aquifer from Vermillion, South Dakota, to 20 member communities in the tri-state area.
Luverne contracts for 821,000 gallons per day but uses roughly 550,000 gallons per day.
Rock County Rural Water contracts for 300,000 of Lewis and Clark water per day but needs more in order to meet increased ag demand and to buy time until local capital improvements are completed.
“When we agreed to 300,000 gallons per day from Lewis and Clark, that was 30 years ago, and a lot has changed since then,” said rural water director Ryan Holtz.
“We’re working to expand our wellfield, but we’re still a number of months out from that, and this ensures that we can meet our demands.”
He said Rural Water is also planning a water tower in the western part of the system, and when Lewis and Clark expands its system in several years, Rock County Rural Water’s allocation will be 474,000 gallons per day.
To this point, Lewis and Clark has been able to sell water beyond contracted amounts, but after recent heat and drought in some parts of the region, excess water sales have stopped in order to meet increased demand.
This prompted Rock County water officials to seek other water sources, and Mayor Pat Baustian said it only makes sense to sell the city’s unused allocation to the county.
“This is the right thing to do to help out our rural partners,” Baustian said.
Luverne pays roughly $1.60 per 1,000 gallons of Lewis and Clark Rural Water at its current use. The more water used, the lower the price, so the arrangement also benefits the city.
The additional 150,000 gallons per day will reduce the amount the city pays, and Rock County Rural Water will pay the city an additional 15 cents per 1,000 gallons.
The agreement is on a month-to-month basis as long as extra water is available to the city and as long as the county needs the extra water.
Earlier this month, Luverne’s annual lawn watering restrictions were implemented, allowing odd-numbered residences to water on odd-numbered days and even numbers on even days.
Watering is prohibited from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. to prevent water wasted to evaporation.