Stutsman County Commission approves starting study to move water from western Stutsman County

Dec. 2—JAMESTOWN — The Stutsman County Commission unanimously approved on Wednesday, Nov. 27, letting Houston Engineering start a feasibility study on how to move water from basins in western Stutsman County and Crystal Springs Lake.

The county commission unanimously approved entering into an agreement with the North Dakota Department of Water Resources' State Water Commission for a $99,900 cost-share grant for the feasibility study. Stutsman County must sign the agreement with the State Water Commission by Dec. 16.

The commission unanimously approved funding up to $42,100 for the remaining cost of the study.

The cost of the feasibility study is $222,000. The local cost share is about $122,000

Mike Gunsch, senior project manager with Houston Engineering, said $80,000 has been contributed to the feasibility study, including $20,000 from BNSF Railway Co. BNSF also has a $20,000 in-kind contribution, which is Houston Engineering's estimate on what the value of BNSF's data is that Houston will use for the feasibility study.

The commission also unanimously approved entering into an agreement with BNSF for the $20,000 contribution and the $20,000 in-kind contribution.

The $80,000 in contributions include $20,000 each from the Steele AMVETS and Crystal Springs Bible Camp and $5,000 from the All Vets Club in Jamestown, The Jamestown Sun reported in October. The contribution from Steele AMVETS is from gaming funds.

The feasibility study is expected to be complete in March.

The feasibility study will show the benefits of removing excess waters, how much of the 250-square-mile watershed is contributing to flooding, regulatory issues, alternative options to remove water and the cost to remove the excess water.

The study will also help determine what the cost is to move water in different directions. The county is looking to move water to the west to the Missouri River, north to Wells County where Pipestem Creek and the James River originate, or east from Crystal Lakes toward Pipestem Creek and James River. The study will also look at costs to move the water south.

"We all have an understanding that even though we're going to be looking at them, they're probably going to fall out for various reasons. They'll be discounted," Gunsch said. "West is probably the direction it's going to go."

He said conversations will need to be held with the Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge manager about any concerns of moving water that direction. Long Lake National Wildlife Refuge is about 50 miles southwest from Crystal Springs Lake.

"We're actually sending them water that has better quality than what they currently have in the refuge," Gunsch said. "So from that perspective, that kind of discounts that. They do have some internal water management issues because they've got a lot of water in their system. They have issues getting rid of it. If that's internal, that's their thing. But we're talking to them about that so that they understand with the amount of water we're sending, what happens within their system."

Gunsch said the North Dakota Game and Fish Department has provided bathymetry data — information about the shape and depth of underwater terrain — to Houston Engineering.

"We can do the area capacity of all the storage that's actually under current water level," he said. " ... So now we can start differentiating if we take water out of stink Lake, how is that going to happen in the system? What sort of water is there?"

He said the Game and Fish Department also took a look at the lake systems and gave Houston an indication of the preferred elevation for fisheries.

"It may not be the preferred elevation for flood impacts," he said. "Just to understand, you've got maybe some competing interests there, but they're involved in the process, and they're more than willing to have discussions further about what the elevations would be, what the final decision process might be."