Flood group tells corps to consider three projects

Talk about it

Local officials will have until the end of December to determine what sort of Red River diversion channel will meet the needs of Fargo-Moorhead area residents.

At the same time, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received focused marching orders Thursday from the Metro Flood Study Work Group.

That should make it possible to determine if a North Dakota diversion will be eligible for federal funding in time to keep the project on track, said Craig Evans, a project manager for the corps.

The work group, made up of officials from Fargo, Moorhead, Cass and Clay counties, and local water boards, unanimously voted to trim the number of local projects to be studied to three diversions.

Evans said that would cut the workload and make it possible for the corps to get local officials their answers in time to make a decision on a local option plan.

The three diversion plans to be studied:

• A short diversion in Minnesota that will carry 35,000 cubic feet per second of water.

• A 30,000-cubic-feet-per- second diversion in North Dakota.

• A 35,000-cubic-feet-per- second diversion in North Dakota.

Both North Dakota plans will employ the Sheyenne Diversion, but they can be adjusted to a diversion that swings west, Evans said.

Local officials said early on that they felt pressured to come up with a locally preferred option by Dec. 1, without having numbers ready to know if a North Dakota diversion was viable.

Evans countered that the study needed to be focused.

“We can keep playing that game, but it all takes time … which we don’t have,” Evans said.

Fargo City Commissioner Tim Mahoney warned the group that any North Dakota plan would also need to have some cushion over the federal cost-benefit ratio to be assured of surviving later review.

Jeffrey Volk, president of West Fargo’s Moore Engineering, broke the logjam by pointing out that the corps just needed guidance on a project by Dec. 1, and that a final decision wouldn’t be needed until the end of December.

Volk said the flood study group would have its answers by then – if they didn’t change their minds.

The group also discussed sponsorship or ownership of the project, and potential cost sharing, but took no action.

Readers can reach Forum reporter Helmut Schmidt at (701) 241-5583

Tags: communities, news, flood, diversion, flood, fargo, moorhead