Todd Sando P.E.

During its July 28 meeting, the State Water Commission voted unanimously to hire Todd Sando as North Dakota's 17th State Engineer, replacing Dale L. Frink, who retired in that position. Sando has been a Commission employee since 1985 in various engineering positions, with the most recent being the Director of the Water Development Division and Assistant State Engineer. A Bismarck native, Sando graduated from Century High School and earned a Civil Engineering degree at the University of North Dakota. Sando formally became the North Dakota State Engineer and Chief Engineer-Secretary to the State Water Commission on August 1. "We do have a lot of pressing water issues," Sando told the Commission after the vote. "I'll work closely with Commission members, and I'll work hard to communicate... We can make this a better place for future generations, and solve a lot of our issues out there." Read more in the September issue of The Oxbow.

New Transition & Filter Structure, Devils L. Outlet

Starting in late 2009, and finishing in June, the SWC successfully completed an ambitious expansion of the Devils Lake outlet. With the rapid design, mobilization, and construction of the outlet, the state was able to increase the peak pumping capacity from 100 cfs to 250 cfs. Substantial changes in the outlet infrastructure included: bringing in 6,000 more kilowatts of power; four new 75 cfs pumps; an expansion of the gravel filter; new facilities at Round Lake; an expansion of the Josephine pump site; and modifications at the terminal structure, where the outlet flows into the Sheyenne River. Read more in the September issue of The Oxbow. Or, visit this You Tube site.

A NEW Report of the Devils Lake Basin Technical Review Team was recently released. The purpose of the report is to outline potential "next steps" to addressing the continuing flooding problems in the Devils Lake basin. The report was developed through a cooperative effort of the ND State Water Commission, the ND Department of Emergency Services, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Dale L. Frink

After 39 years of dedicated service to the people of North Dakota, State Engineer Dale Frink will retire, effective June 30. At a May 24 staff meeting, Frink announced his intention to retire, saying, "...it just feels like the time is right." After expressing his thanks to Water Commission staff, and providing words of encouragement for future efforts, he received a standing ovation from the packed room of staffers. Read the full story in the July issue of The Oxbow.

The State Water Commission met on September 1. If you are interested in receiving a copy of the agenda, send an e-mail to Sharon Locken at slocken@nd.gov, or call 701-328-4940. The agenda and informational materials are also available at this link.

The State Water Commission (SWC) has initiated the process of developing a Water Development Report for the 2011-2013 biennium. 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. A download of the water project information form that is to be used by project sponsors is available by clicking here.

Forest River Community Aquifer Recharge Basin

Aquifer Recharge and Recovery (ARR) is a management practice by which surface waters from rivers and streams are captured during periods of high flow - usually in spring following snowmelt in North Dakota - and stored in nearby aquifers for later use. The State Water Commission has investigated the use of ARR in several projects. Since 1993 the Forest River Hutterite Community has operated an ARR basin facility, pumping as much as 1,000 acre-feet of water from the Forest River in the spring to be stored in the Inkster aquifer, and later pumped from the aquifer for irrigation. The Water Commission staff, in cooperation with the Forest River Community, has monitored and studied the ARR project for the full duration of its operation. Two reports on the Forest River ARR operation have been recently published and are available for downloading: "The Planning, Construction and Operation of an Aquifer Recharge and Recovery Infiltration Basin in Grand Forks County, North Dakota" (WRI No. 47), and "Retention of Aquifer Recharge and Recovery Water in a Shallow Unconfined Aquifer: Simulations of a Basin Recharge and Recovery Facility in Grand Forks County, North Dakota" (WRI No. 48).

The Devils Lake levee.

The SWC recently completed a full-color Devils Lake flier that is available for download. The four-page flier includes photos, hydrographs, maps, and a myriad of factoids related to the Devils Lake flooding situation. Topics covered include: basin geology, water levels, inundation statistics, economic damages, the city's levee, and the outlet. Check it out!

Drain Permit No. 3457 for the Devils Lake Outlet was approved by the State Engineer on June 3. Click here for more information, and scroll down to Permit Information.

Source: Jon Patch, SWC

The Water Appropriation Division of the SWC monitors a network of over 4000 sites (observation wells, stream gages, and surface water sampling locations) to keep tabs on the water resource conditions throughout the state. Shown here is a composite hydrograph (click to enlarge) of the entire ground-water monitoring network. It amalgamates every water level measurement stored in the SWC database to build this single hydrograph of ground-water level changes of the state as a whole. The subroutines used to create this hydrograph are designed to build a daily change array, so the frequency or duration of monitoring does not unfairly weight any specific well, no matter how long it was monitored, how often it was monitored, or the period of time it was monitored. The ground-water trends follow climatic cycles. Of particular note are the "wetter" periods in the mid to late 1960s and from 1993 to 2000, as well as the "drier" period in 1988 to 1991. The recent downward trend since 2000 represents a return to more normal precipitation amounts statewide; however, 2009 was wetter than normal, and resulted in an average increase of just over one foot in ground-water levels.

Feb 2010 Snow Water Equivalent Map, NOHRSC

NOAA's Source for Snow Information:

The National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center provides comprehensive snow observations, analyses, data sets, and interactive map products for the nation.

SWC MapService Snow Data:

The SWC MapService is another source of snow water equivalency mapped data. The MapService has a built-in tutorial for users. Or a step-by-step instructional for basic use of the snow data is available.

A related article on snow data resources was developed by the SWC's ARB Division for ND Water magazine.

Thirty public and 11 tribal-focused meetings will be held by the Army Corps of Engineers to collect recommendations, suggestions and comments to define the scope of studies that will be conducted for the Missouri River Authorized Purposes Study. Each of the public meetings will be open house style, allowing participants to come and go on their own schedules. All the meetings will run from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Scoping Meetings Schedule.