Support is on the rise for creating a diversion to ease flooding. The Cass County Board of Commissioners came out in favor of a diversion on the North Dakota side of the river, Monday. So far, though, the Army Corps of Engineers has supported a diversion in Minnesota.
Cass County's Board of Commissioners officially got behind a diversion through North Dakota as the flood control option they prefer.
Vanyo: “I think we've got something here that I can support.”
Wagner: “It gives the largest amount of protection to the most people.”
Scott Wagner says one of the reasons building a diversion in North Dakota would be more difficult is actually what makes it a better option. It would have to cross the Sheyenne, Maple, and Wild Rice rivers: catching water from them in a flood, and lessening their impact on rural areas.
Wagner: “A ND diversion will go along ways of solving a lot of those issues with those tributaries.”
Add to that the resistance among many in Minnesota to having a diversion built in their back yard. Last week, the city of Dilworth came out against a Minnesota diversion.
Parke: “We highly recommend that it does not go on the east side of Dilworth.”
Now, they hope to prove the
benefits of a diversion to the west definitely outweigh the costs.
Pawluk: “The study reveals construction of a ND diversion would provide greater flood control benefits for a larger geographical area.”
Roughly 700-million federal dollars will go to help pay for the permanent flood protection project, but only if the cost-benefit analysis shows that it's worth it.
