Forum editorial: A wake-up call from Dilworth

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Dilworth city leaders’ objection to a Minnesota-side flood diversion of the flood-prone Red River sends a message to the greater community: No city or county in the flood zone can be ignored. No damage – potentially real or merely perceived – from a massive flood control project can be minimized.

While the Dilworth objection seems premature, the city wasted no time in strongly expressing its opposition to a river diversion channel that would skirt the city’s east side. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not determined a final route for a diversion in Minnesota or North Dakota. But, land and soil conditions on the Minnesota side prevent excavation of a deep, 15-mile-long ditch far enough east of Dilworth to assuage the city’s worries. Among the impediments is the Buffalo Aquifer, a vital water source for the region.

The Dilworth action might have taken flood control interests by surprise. It should not have. Leaving Dilworth out of the project’s initial planning stages was a mistake. Dilworth is an important player in the metro area. When it was hinted months ago that a diversion on the east side of the river might be an option, Dilworth should have been included in the discussion. After all, Dilworth is the easternmost city in the urban area, and one of the areas of significant commercial and residential growth.

That having been said, the belief that an east-side diversion would spell an end to Dilworth’s eastward growth is a tad farfetched. Has no one in the city’s leadership circle heard of a bridge? In the unlikely event a Minnesota diversion is constructed (at this point smart money is on the North Dakota side) it would be a relatively routine engineering challenge to build a couple of bridges over the diversion, thus connecting existing Dilworth to the expansion acreage to the east. Indeed, well-designed bridges over a landscaped diversion could be assets to the city. “Diversion Park” has a nice ring to it.

That’s all speculation, of course. However, the legitimate concerns of communities in the flood control zones are not in question. The leaders of cities that stand to benefit most from a diversion ignore those concerns at their peril.

Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.

Tags: opinion, editorials, flood, diversion, dilworth