The State Water Commission will meet on November 12 at 1:30 pm at the State Office Building in the lower level conference room, 900 East Boulevard Ave., Bismarck. 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. A PDF of the agenda can be downloaded at the link below.
NDSWC Meeting
Manitoba Border Dike
ON PEMBINA BORDER DIKE
BISMARCK, N.D. - Gov. John Hoeven Tuesday hand delivered a number of photographs to U.S. State Department officials illustrating flooding in Pembina County North Dakota caused by a 30-mile-long Canadian road functioning as a dike along the international border, a clear violation of the U.S. Boundary Waters Treaty Act of 1909.
State Water Management Plan
The Water Commission recently completed a new 2009 North Dakota State Water Management Plan (SWMP). The overall purpose of the new SWMP is to: provide information regarding current and projected water use; identify areas where water is generally available for new beneficial uses; identify goals and objectives for water resource management and development; identify potential water resource management and development projects and programs; provide current information regarding the Water Commission's revenue sources for water project development; serve as a formal request for funding from the Resources Trust Fund; and broadly identify water resource management and development opportunities and challenges, and provide recommendations to address them. To request a hard copy of the plan, call (701) 328-4989. To download a PDF of the plan, click on the link below.
09-11 Strategic Plan Completed
The 2009-2011 State Water Commission and Office of the State Engineer Strategic Plan has been completed. The new Strategic Plan contains descriptions and overviews of the agency's major projects and programs. To develop the 2009-2011 Strategic Plan, project and program managers were asked to provide input regarding their expectations for future progress through June 30, 2011. As part of that effort, they were asked to provide project and/or program objectives that they will strive to accomplish during the strategic planning timeframe, as well as specific tasks that will be completed to achieve their objectives. To request a hard copy of the plan, call (701) 328-4989. To download a PDF of the plan, click on the link below.
Irrigation Development Funding
There are several funding assistance programs available for individual irrigators and for irrigation districts in North Dakota. These programs, provided through the Bank of North Dakota, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the North Dakota State Water Commission, are listed below:
PROGRAMS FOR INDIVIDUAL IRRIGATORS:
* AgPACE (Bank of North Dakota) -
An interest rate buy-down program available to farmers to create an on-farm business intergrated into the farm operation.
* EQIP (Natural Resources Conservation Service) -
Offers farmers and ranchers a tool to address their water-related natural resource concerns, while achieving environmental benefits.
PROGRAMS FOR IRRIGATION DISTRICTS:
* Cost-Share for Irrigation Development (North Dakota State Water Commission) -
Cost-share up to 40 percent of eligible items available to political subdivisions, such as irrigation districts.
* Capital Financing Program and Irrigation & Related Facilities Program
(Bank of North Dakota, North Dakota Public Finance Authority)
Available to qualifying organizations, including irrigation districts, for equipment and water supply infrastructure.
To download a PDF of a brochure with more details about the programs, click on the link below.
Sovereign Land Management Plan
The Office of the State Engineer recently completed North Dakota's first Sovereign Land Management Plan. Sovereign land is another name for North Dakota's public lands in and around the state's major rivers and lakes. The plan includes 21 recommendations and corresponding action strategies that are aimed at improving management of the state's sovereign lands. Some of the management recommendations pertain to cultural and historic resources, water quality, motor vehicle use, littering, noxious weeds, hunting, boating, and camping. To request a hard copy of the plan, call (701) 328-2752. To download a PDF of the plan, click on the link below.
USGS Gauges in Google Earth
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 here: 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 web site 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.
NDMC Developing New Tools
The National Drought Mitigation Center and partners are developing several drought decision support tools with sponsorship from the Risk Management Agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In addition to institutional partners, the NDMC is working with extension agents, farmers and ranchers, and other resource managers who can benefit from the tools in various ways. To gather input as the tools are being developed, the NDMC is holding workshops around the country. Tools under development with RMA and other partners include the Drought Monitor, Drought Atlas, Drought Decision Support System, Drought Impact Reporter, VegDRI, VegOut, Ranch Planning Guide, and GreenLeaf.
For information about the National Drought Mitigation Center and the new drought management tools they've been developing, go to http://drought.unl.edu. You can contact the NDMC at (402) 472-6707, or e-mail at NDMC@unl.edu.
