State Unveils New Water Pipeline | Video

Evan Kruegel | 12/14/2012

Millions of gallons of extra water are about to be flowing through northwest North Dakota. The state officially opened the first valve today, bringing fresh, profitable, water to areas in dire need.

"The future depends on getting this good quality water from the Missouri river. Our aquifers have been taxed by the development and the oil industries fracking needs, and this is something we`ve been working towards for many years," said Watford City Mayor Brent Sanford.

As oil impacted cities continue to grow, clean water is becoming increasingly important.

"Water is the most critical component of that. Without critical infrastructure investments, the oil in the ground and the commodities we`re producing are worth zero,” said Lt. Gov. Drew Wrigley.

The pipeline will benefit not only local water supplies, but clean-water needs for oil companies in the area. Those same companies will eventually fund the entire project, by purchasing water from local municipalities. When complete, the western area water supply will benefit 11 other cities, and thousands of rural residents.

"It covers the entire northwestern part of the state of ND, all the way to the Montana border, the Canadian border, about 6750 square miles. We`re estimating that by the end, we`ll be impacting anywhere between 75,000 to 100,000 people with this project," said Denton Zubke, Chairman of the Western Area Water Supply Authority.

Representative George Keiser spear-headed the idea, which he says is quite unique.

"You may not appreciate how revolutionary the idea is, but it is indeed a revolutionary idea. This is a different business model than the state of North Dakota has ever used."

When all is said and done, over 20 million gallons of water could be flowing daily across the northwest portion of the state.

COMMENT ON THIS STORY