The James River Water Development District awarded $16,250 in cost-sharing assistance at their recent Board of Directors meeting held in Redfield on Thursday, March 9.
The District awarded $15,750 to Brown County Highway to remove a bridge spanning the Elm River in Brown County. This bridge has been out of service for 10 years and will not be replaced. This structure is located 15,000 feet upstream from the Aberdeen Water Plant. Removal of this bridge will prevent further degradation at this site and prevent the bridge from falling into the Elm River. The bridge site also attracts unfavorable activities even though barriers and fences have been erected.
The District awarded $500 to co-sponsor the 10th Biennial US Drought Monitor Forum to be held in South Dakota. The conference is focused on drought monitoring and how the US Drought Monitor map process works. This meeting will be attended by 80-100 participants from water, agriculture and drought experts from around the country.
In other business, the District received an update on the Jamestown and Pipestem reservoirs from Jessica Batterman, Hydraulic Engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha. A medium flow year is predicted, as designated in the Water Control Manual for Jamestown and Pipestem reservoirs. The maximum combined releases from Jamestown and Pipestem reservoirs will be at 450 cfs and releases will be adjusted based on rainfall and snowmelt runoff.
John Remus with the US Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, gave a background on the 2013 Feasibility Study on the James River. This study concluded that there are no Federal projects that are feasible on the James River for the US Army Corps of Engineers to participate in. However, local projects support by the James River Water Development District can be beneficial.