A 28-year-old dream became reality when Missouri River water arrived in February in Philip via a West River/Lyman Jones pipeline.

Former Mayor Mike West had the honor of opening the valve bringing river water into the water storage tank supplying water for the city and Bad River Rural Water, a small water system serving rural residents near Philip.

"It's been a long time a-coming," West said. "It's one of those things you know you need it and it doesn't look like it's going to get there."

West was mayor in 1980 when Philip, plagued by water-quality problems for years, eagerly welcomed the concept of a West River aqueduct as an option for supplying water to western South Dakota.

At that time, Philip took its water from Lake Waggoner. Water from a deep artesian well next to the lake was pumped into the lake to supplement the lake water.

In dry years, more well water was needed to meet the city's needs. Residents were forced to cope with water that tasted and smelled foul, and the percentage of well water increased.

A timeline compiled by Monna Van Lint, Philip's finance officer, records decades of obstacles the city faced to provide an adequate water supply.

Former Mayor Nancy Ekstrum remembers those years as times when a good day was defined as one when there was water in the tap.

"Water was an ongoing problem," Ekstrum said.

Just about the time the city council thought they could rest on a past solution, "a new interesting little glitch would raise its head," Ekstrum said.

Philip was scheduled to be the last community connected to West River/Lyman Jones system when a pipeline carrying river water from the Mni Wiconi water project was brought north from Interstate 90, Van Lint said.

In 2002, when Philip was faced with a costly conversion of its water-treatment plant to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards, emergency funding brought a West River/Lyman Jones waterline from Quinn to Philip. The pipeline carried water from wells at Creighton and Quinn.

Only a minimal flow is being maintained in the 25-mile line from Quinn to Philip, according to West River/Lyman Jones manager Jake Fitzgerald. The waterline does give Philip the assurance of two sources of good water for the first time in its history.

The arrival of river water in Philip is a significant step for West River/Lyman Jones, Fitzgerald said.

"It's going to have a huge impact on our capacity needs," he said.

As drought tightens its hold on the region, demand on the system has continued to grow. Water usage has increased 55 percent in the past five years. Water restrictions were implemented for all water users last summer.

"Our wells in the summertime would, at times, run 24 hours a day and would still lose ground," Fitzgerald said.

Having plenty of water available is also good news for the 71 members of Bad River Rural Water, according to Doug Hauk, president of the water system's board of directors.

The small independent system supplies water for several ranchers.

"If it wasn't for rural water, there wouldn't be cattle on some places," Hauk said.

Mni Wiconi and West River/Lyman Jones representatives are in Washington, D.C., this week lobbying for more funding for Mni Wiconi.

President Bush's 2009 budget included only $16.24 million for construction - $7 million less than was requested - and $10 million for maintenance of the giant water project.

As renewed pleas for funding for the water project are being made in Washington, Philip's former mayors paid tribute to the "water warriors" who had vision for western South Dakota decades ago.

"When the organized groups began their lobbying efforts, they had an interested and passionate group of people with the groundwork already in place," Ekstrum said.

And, they should know, West said, "The water is great."

Contact Andrea Cook at 394-8423 or andrea.cook@rapidcityjournal.com.