A Binational Perspective on the Draft Report on Red River Valley Water Needs and Options
Ralph I. Pentland
September 09, 2005
- English
In 1977, the International Joint Commission concluded that the Garrison Diversion project would violate the Boundary Waters Treaty, and that an interbasin water transfer should only proceed if the risk of biota transfer were eliminated, or if the risk of biota transfer t ceased to be a matter of concern. Nevertheless, the Dakota Water Resources Act of 2000 authorized a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation study of water supply needs in the North Dakota portion of the Red River Valley, including the option of importing water from the Missouri River Basin. Comments on a draft Bureau of Reclamation report were requested.
Ralph Pentland notes that the options studied include two in-basin solutions, a Lake of the Woods diversion option, and three Missouri River diversion options. The two in-basin options and the least ambitious of the Missouri diversion options would cost in the order of $500 million in 2005 U.S. dollars, while the others would cost between about $900 million and $2.2 billion. In his submission, Mr. Pentland makes a number of comments on technical and bi-national legal issues that either are or should be of mutual concern to Canada and the United States.