The Water Commission voted on May 14 to approve $1 million in funding to reactivate the Drought Disaster Livestock Water Supply Project Assistance Program, and on June 23 voted to increase the funding by another $250,000. The Program is designed to provide 50 percent cost-share assistance to livestock producers with livestock water supply shortages caused by drought. For the 2008 Program, producers should be aware of a few rule changes:

Construction on a project can begin immediately after submitting a completed application and prior to approval from the State Engineer.

Projects located within Indian reservation boundaries are eligible.

Applicant is limited to reimbursement for up to three livestock water supply projects.

List of eligible equipment was expanded to allow new technologies to be used.

Application Form

About the Drought Livestock Program

Well Contractors - Provides access to the list of Monitoring Well Contractors, Pump and Pitless Unit Contractors and Water Well Contractors that are licensed to operate in North Dakota.

North Dakota Cloud Modification Project (NDCMP) operations will begin at Noon CDT on June 1 and continue through August. Cloud seeding operations will be conducted over six counties in western ND under proper weather conditions. The goals of the NDCMP are twofold: to increase rainfall and decrease crop-hail damage in the seeded areas. Cloud seeding first began in North Dakota in 1951, and has been conducted with aircraft since 1960. Long-term, independent evaluations of the NDCMP indicate that crop-hail damage has been reduced by 45 percent, rainfall has been increased by 4 to 10 percent, and wheat yields have been increased by 5.9 percent. Economic evaluations of the program show a direct benefit of $8 million per year in enhanced crop production and more than $24 million in total annual economic activity. The NDCMP operates weather radars 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, June to August. The radar images can be viewed at the following link.

For further information about the NDCMP, visit the website, or contact the ND Atmospheric Resource Board at (701) 328-2788, or via e-mail at dlangerud@nd.gov.

For the latest Missouri River main stem reservoir forecast information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, click here.

The North Dakota Water Resources Research Institute was founded in 1965 by authority of Congress as one of the 54 Institutes throughout the nation and is administered through the United States Geological Survey. Each year the Institute, supplemented by 15% match from the North Dakota State Water Commission, grants fellowships to graduate students at North Dakota universities for research in water-resource related areas on a competitive basis. Recognizing the importance of information dissemination in realizing this priority, the Institute sponsored a day of seminars by WRI Research Fellows at the North Dakota Heritage Center on April 15th, 2008. Click here for a list of the speakers, and to download movies of the presentations from the seminars.

The Missouri River basin states and tribes have formed a new organization, to be used as a forum for dialogue on Missouri River basin issues. The Missouri River Association of States and Tribes (MoRAST) is a regional interstate organization formed by joint resolution of the governors of North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, Iowa, and Kansas, and the Intertribal Water Rights Coalition. People interested in monitoring the activities of this organization can visit their website at www.mo-rast.org. Presentation materials from previous meetings are available and should prove informative concerning key issues facing the basin.

The State Water Commission (SWC) has initiated the process of updating the State Water Management Plan. To make this process a success, the Water Commission needs help from project sponsors in identifying North Dakota's potential water management projects and programs, the timing of their implementation, and their estimated costs. To collect this information, the Commission has sent project information forms to water boards, cities, rural/regional water system managers, and other known water project and program sponsors. As in the past, the product of this effort will become the foundation of the Commission's budget request to the Governor and Legislature. If you are a water project or program sponsor who may come to the Commission for cost-share assistance to fund your effort and you did not receive a form, please contact the Commission at 701-328-4989. The project information form can also be downloaded here.

The Fox Hills-Hell Creek aquifer is a vital source of water for livestock, domestic, municipal, and industrial uses in western North Dakota. The aquifer is artesian, which allows wells in low-lying areas to flow. The pressure in the aquifer is declining at an average rate of approximately one foot per year. If the current trend continues, a majority of the flowing wells installed in the aquifer will stop flowing within the next 60-90 years.

On a ten-year frequency, the State Water Commission monitors flowing well pressure changes in the aquifer and publishes the results in three reports. In association with each report, brochures titled: Flowing Well Pressure Changes in 1) Billings, Golden Valley, and Slope Counties, 2) McKenzie County, and 3) the Knife River Basin were recently published.

The pressure in the Fox Hills-Hell Creek aquifer may be declining at a rate greater than is necessary. Conservation of the pressure is essential for maximizing the life of the flowing wells. Procedures to minimize pressure decline are described in the brochures.

To download a brochure, click here: Flowing Well Brochures. To download a report, click on Water Resource Investigations and choose WRI No 42, WRI No 43, or WRI No 44. For more information or to request brochures, contact Rex Honeyman, SWC Hydrologist, at 701-328-2754 or by e-mail at rhoneyman@nd.gov.

The U.S. Geological Survey, the State Water Commission, the Red River Watershed Management Board, the Red River Joint Water Resource District, and the Upper Sheyenne River Joint Water Resource Board, are proud to announce the completion of a new educational poster entitled "A History of Flooding in the Red River Basin." The poster is designed to increase awareness about the history of flooding in the Red River Basin, and the factors that contribute to flooding in that region. The poster can be downloaded from the USGS at http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2007/55/. Or, paper copies of the 30" x 40" poster can be requested by calling the Water Commission at (701) 328-4989, or by e-mail request to dschock@nd.gov.

It is now possible to view real-time USGS stream gauges in Google Earth. Google Earth is an interactive map service and 3D viewer that seamlessly zooms from a global scale down to less than a meter in many urban areas. Google Earth is a free application for Windows and Mac computers and is available at: http://earth.google.com

The Google Earth user community is using a feature of the program to make a wide range of geographic-related information available to fellow users. This is normally accomplished by creating a kmz file that is essentially an overlay that will be portrayed on the Google Earth maps. One such overlay was created to provide easy access to the USGS live stream gauging network. The USGS provides a free download of this feature from their website at: http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/kmls/real.kmz

Once you have downloaded the kmz file, just open it in Google Earth. The gauges are color-coded by streamflow condition - from dry to wet.

If you have developed or know of any other Google Earth overlay downloads that might be useful to water managers, please send us an e-mail at swc@nd.gov and tell us about them.