Chairman Dan Klimisch of Yankton announces that the James River Water Development District awarded $75,207.50 in cost-sharing assistance at their recent regular Board of Directors meeting held in Huron on Thursday, March 21.
The District awarded $26,000 to Ducks Unlimited to restore 9 wetlands on a half section of land in Beadle County located 3 miles west of the James River. The 9 wetlands combined have a total surface area of about 27 acres and have a storage capacity of about 50 acre-feet of water.
The District awarded $19,247 to repair a dam in Sweet Township in Hutchinson County. This dam acts as a sediment trap for the water coming out of the city of Menno.
In other business, the District will partner with the SD Department of Environment and Natural Resources to address water quality interests throughout the James River and Lewis and Clark Basins in 2019 and 2020. The water quality interests include assessing the impact of best management practices, collecting data on waterbodies for the purpose of the TMDL development, and collecting data at South Dakota’s Water Quality Monitoring sites for improved trend monitoring.
The District also was given an update on the upstream reservoirs and 2019 releases from 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 750 cfs and releases will be adjusted based on rainfall and snowmelt runoff.
For further information, contact the James River Water Development District office in Huron at 352-0600 or visit the website at www.jrwdd.com.