Corps of Engineers Begins New Partnership With North Dakota and Minnesota to
Enhance Red River Basin

SAINT PAUL, MINN. - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District; the North Dakota State Water Commission; and the City of Moorhead, Minn., signed a project cooperation agreement Aug. 20 to work together in developing a long-range plan for the Red River basin upstream of Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead. 

A coalition of 13 non-federal partners from North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota will work together on the project.  This cooperative venture will assess the potential for surface water storage projects to reduce flooding and enhance natural resources in the basin.  It is the first step needed for states and cities to obtain federal money for water resource projects.

The first phase of this study will estimate the likely impact of upstream storage on flood damages in the Fargo-Moorhead area.  It will begin immediately and is scheduled for completion in May 2005.  If the results of phase one look promising, progressively more detailed second and third phases could continue into 2008, ending with a project recommendation to Congress.

The first phase of the study will cost $500,000, and the Corps of Engineers will pay 50 percent.  The remaining half will be covered by the Bois de Sioux Watershed District, the Buffalo-Red River Watershed District, the City of Fargo, the City of Moorhead, the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the North Dakota State Water Commission, the Red River Joint Water Resource District, the Richland County Water Resource District, the Southeast Cass Water Resource District, the South Dakota Department of Game Fish and Parks, and the Red River Basin Commission.

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US Army Corps of Engineers



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