The South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources has asked the City of Huron to relinquish some water usage rights on the James River. City Engineer Mike Wever says some of the water rights date back over 100 years….
Huron holds five water rights permits on the James River but only uses water from the river for irrigation in Memorial Park. The amount of water used from the river is two cubic feet per second or about 450 gallons per minute in the summertime. Commissioner Mark Robish was curious why the DENR was so eager to get the water right permits back…
Robish was concerned about giving the rights up…
Wever says he could not see a situation where the city would be required to pull drinking water from the river. He says the city is currently only using two-fifths of the current five c-f-s capacity.