NAWS Update

Tens of millions of dollars spent miles-and-miles of pipe buried in the ground between Lake Saka...  More »

Tens of millions of dollars spent miles-and-miles of pipe buried in the ground between Lake Sakakawea and Minot and more than 20 years of planning and construction work. After all that, will water ever be flowing in the Northwest Area Water Supply project lines? That question was debated by Senator Byron Dorgan, Governor John Hoeven, and top NAWS officials this afternoon. At issue is a judge's ruling in a Canadian lawsuit that NAWS must do more treatment of the water it will move north from Lake Sakakawea because it is crossing over into a water system that drains into Lake Winnipeg. At today's meeting, an official with the Bureau of Reclamation said the Canadians have promised to get out of the way of NAWS if the project adds a second treatment system treating the water near the lake. (Dennis Breitzman, Bureau of Reclamation) But that won't be cheap. The Bureau official estimated the cost of a full treatment system at more than 70-million dollars. The entire project was supposed to cost around 150-million without the new treatment system. Governor John Hoeven is meeting with federal officials next week to get a commitment for funding to finish NAWS.  « Less