Heitkamp Helps Secure $24.8 Million to Improve Rural Water Infrastructure in North Dakota

Senator Helped Secure Additional $17.4 Million for ND’s 2016 Rural Water Construction Projects – the Highest Award from the Bureau of Reclamation of Any Other State

Washington, D.C. – February 10, 2016 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp today announced that rural and tribal areas across North Dakota will receive a total of $24.8 million in federal funding to help the state expand and improve its water supply infrastructure – more than any other state is being awarded for rural water construction projects this year.

As ranking member on the Senate Agriculture Committee Subcommittee on Rural Development and Energy, Heitkamp has specifically pushed to make investments in rural water projects across North Dakota. The U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Reclamation, which oversees water resource management, heeded Heitkamp’s repeated calls to help improve rural water systems across the state and awarded North Dakota an additional $17.4 million for construction – the highest award received by any state this year.

These increased resources directly follow Heitkamp success in fighting for and helping pass $7.4 million in the year-end spending bill to help upgrade the state’s water infrastructure, particularly in rural and tribal areas.

“Making sure every small town and rural community has access to safe, clean drinking water needs to be a top priority,” said Heitkamp. “Growing up in the small town of Mantador, I understand how crucial connecting even our most far-reaching towns to strong water supplies is to keeping our statewide community united. In the Senate, I work every day to improve the infrastructure challenges of rural America so families are protected. It’s great news that the Bureau of Reclamation is making such substantial investments to improve rural water supplies across North Dakota – more than any other state this year. These new federal construction resources will help build on the strong investments I successfully fought for in the year-end spending bill so that small towns and tribal communities across our state will have the reliable infrastructure of the water supplies they need for generations to come.”

This new federal funding from DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation will be used by rural and tribal communities across North Dakota for an array of water supply improvements, including:

• Water distribution and storage and improvements for the city of Gladstone: Funding will help provide a new reservoir and mainline for the city’s water system.

• Water storage improvements for the city of Makoti: Funding will help expand the city’s water storage by helping provide for a new 100,000-gallon elevated water tank, as well as resources for the installation of a new water main.
• Water distribution improvements for the city of Glenburn: Funding will help provide a new transmission line, as well as an extension of the city’s current pipeline network. The city will also receive additional resources for a new reservoir and mainline for its water system.
• Water tower improvements in the city of Mohall: Funding will help provide a new 225,000 gallon water tower, as well as resources to remove the city’s old water tower.
• Water quality improvements for the city of Sherwood: Funding will help loop water mains within the city so that residents can access a better quality supply of water.
• Water pipeline construction at Lake Sakakawea: Funding will be used for continued construction of the Southwest Pipeline project including an intake at Lake Sakakawea.

Last February, Heitkamp helped secure more than $10 million from the DOI’s Bureau of Reclamation to construct and upgrade water supply projects on the Standing Rock, Spirit Lake, and Turtle Mountain Indian Reservations as well as work on the Southwest Pipeline project.

Heitkamp has long worked to improve and protect rural water supplies, In December, the President signed into law Heitkamp’s bipartisan Grassroots Rural and Small Community Water Systems Assistance Act to help make sure small and rural towns nationwide – which often lack the resources to access the latest technology or the proper technical assistance to comply with federal drinking water rules – have access to clean drinking water. Now that Heitkamp’s bill is law, $15 million in annual federal support to help small and rural towns offset the cost of complying with federal rules, providing technical assistance and training to both make sure residents and businesses in these communities can access clean drinking water.