Mni Wiconi gets $28 million for ’08 construction

By Steve Miller, Journal staff | Thursday, December 20, 2007

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The Senate approved $28 million Tuesday night for continued construction of the giant Mni Wiconi water project, which should begin delivering treated Missouri River water to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation next year, 20 years after the project was first authorized.

The Senate approved the omnibus spending bill, including the Mni Wiconi money, Tuesday night, and the House passed it Wednesday afternoon.

The president is expected to sign it.

The $28 million will be adequate to continue construction for fiscal year 2008, which began Oct. 1, but more will be needed in future years to keep the project on course for completion in 2013, according to Mike Watson of Helena, Mont., head engineer for the Oglala Sioux Tribe, which is the lead sponsoring agency for Mni Wiconi.

Congress authorized the project to deliver clean water to the reservations and other parts of southwestern South Dakota that had shortages of good-quality water.

When finished, the project will deliver treated Missouri River water to about 50,000 people on three Native American reservations and in nine West River counties.

The water-treatment plant was finished at Fort Pierre several years ago, and the core line has been extended to Murdo, Kadoka and, this fall, almost to Wanblee on the far eastern edge of the Pine Ridge reservation.

So far, $330 million has been spent on the project, including both federal and local money, Watson said. He said the project is projected to cost a total of $472 million when finished, although he said inflation likely will drive up that number.

Watson praised South Dakota's congressional delegation for battling to get the money. President Bush had earmarked $19 million in his budget for Mni Wiconi, and the House's original spending bill had set aside $23 million.

Frank Means, director of the Oglala Sioux Rural Water Supply System, singled out Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., for battling for the money from his seat on the Appropriations Committee.

Means said the core line has been extended from Kadoka south to the intersection

with S.D. Highway 44 and west to within a mile and a half of Wanblee. The line will be extended to Wanblee next spring and will deliver the first Missouri water to residents of the reservation since the project began in 1994.

Before that can happen, however, a pump station and storage tanks must be built, Means said.

The line then will be built from Wanblee to Kyle, where it will connect to the still-developing distribution system on Pine Ridge.

The tribe has built pipeline that already is delivering groundwater to Sharp's Corner, Rockyford, Porcupine, Manderson and Red Shirt, on the northwest corner of the reservation, Watson said. "The tribe then will have the flexibility to continue using groundwater or Missouri River water," he said.

On Pine Ridge, 50 percent of the final supply will come from high-quality groundwater and 50 percent from the river, Watson said.

Crews will begin work on unfinished sections next year, Means said.

Distribution lines are also still being built on Rosebud Indian Reservation to the east and on the West River/Lyman Jones Rural Water Systems, which is building lines on off-reservation areas of the Mni Wiconi system.

The omnibus spending bill also provides $26.5 million for construction of the Lewis and Clark water project in eastern South Dakota, $2.95 million for the Perkins County Rural Water System and $1.87 million for the Big Sioux Flood Control Project.

Mni Wiconi chronology

1988: Congress authorizes $100 million project to bring Missouri River water to the Oglala Sioux Tribe and West River/Lyman Jones Rural Water Systems.

1991: Oglala Sioux Tribe referendum rejects the project. The tribal council calls for the project to be reformulated to better fit the tribe's needs and invites Rosebud and Lower Brule Sioux tribes to join. Tribal council votes to accept the project as the lead agency without an oversight committee.

1993: Completion of final engineering report by OST that included all three reservations and all of West River/Lyman Jones; Congress reauthorizes the project at $280 million.

1994: Emergency water supply built for community of Oglala

1999: Oglala Sioux Tribe completes intake and water-treatment plant at Fort Pierre

2002: Project water reaches Murdo and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe

2004: Red Shirt community begins receiving groundwater from Kyle area

2007: Core line to Kadoka finished. Treatment plant treats about 3.8 million gallons of water a day and pumps it south and west



Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com