A US Senate Committee is passing a comprehensive water infrastructure bill that will also direct funding for shoreline stabilization along the banks of the Missouri River in the Big Bend area.
The Environment and Public Works Committee passed the America’s Water Infrastructure Act unanimously on Tuesday.
US Senator Mike Rounds says the bill directs the Army Corps to carry out a project that’s been years in the making.
“You’ve got Lower Brule, because it actually sits on the lower shelf right above the water level and when they moved in there and set that up years ago you would have expected they would have stabilized that bank somewhat. You’ll see in a lot of areas where there’s ripraff and so forth,” Rounds says. “In this particular case, the project has been laid out and for a number of years now they’ve been trying to get the funding in place for it. It’s not established and hopefully we’ll be able to move forward with it.”
Round says that project will help stabilize the shoreline in the Lake Sharpe area, which is experiencing erosion due to damming of the Missouri River in the 60’s.
Rounds says the bill also prioritizes the implementation of the Upper Missouri River snowpack monitoring program. That’s been a program Rounds has called for since he took office. He says that program will mitigate the possibility of a flood event along the Missouri River.