History

Many of the residents of central South Dakota dealt with water problems that were either expensive to remedy or could not be rectified. Because of these problems, it was requested by a group of people that the local water development board, Cendak Water Development District, later known as the Mid-Dakota Water Development District, investigate if there would be interest in doing something similar to the rural water system to the north, WEB Rural Water System. The board sponsored several hearings throughout the area and found that there was a great deal of interest, a steering committee was formed to help with the collection of good intention fees which was used to conduct a feasibility study which was completed by Dewild Grant Reckert and Associates, an engineering firm in Rock Rapids, IA.

A separate interim board (consisting of Susan Hargens, Orient; Earl & Marilou Briggs, Pierre; and Duane Aymar, Miller) was formed to set up the corporation, signing the Articles of Incorporation in December of 1987. They then formed a eleven-member board who would govern the new Mid-Dakota Rural Water System, Inc. The members of the eleven-member board were Chairwoman, Susan Hargens, Orient; Vice-Chairman, Eugene Warriner, Blunt; Secretary/Treasurer, Warren Porter, Highmore; Duane Aymar, Miller; Gerald Gregg, Harrold; Johnny Gross, Onida; Orville Haiwick, Highmore; Gerald Kutzler, Huron; Donald Olson, Huron; Morris Simon, Gettysburg; and Kermit Wulff, Gann Valley. The Mid-Dakota project was expanded to include Potter, Buffalo, Aurora, Sanborn, Jerauld, and a very small part of Kingsbury counties. The entire project now covers a 7,000 square mile area or approximately the size of the state of New Jersey.

The Mid-Dakota Water Development District, a taxing entity, was instrumental in getting the Mid-Dakota project off the ground. In the beginning, they helped to lobby the state and federal government and furnished the office and staff that worked with the project's directors to get federal authorization and funding. There was confusion with the district and the rural water system having the same name, so the district changed its name once again to become the Central Plains Water Development District.

In 1992, the staff, Board of Directors and steering committee all worked to collect hookup fees ($500.00 for household hookups, $350.00 for seasonal and pasture taps, etc.) There were over 100 signup meetings throughout the area and all the information collected was sent to Mid-Dakota engineers, Bartlett & West Engineers, Topeka, KS, to be placed in a final engineering study which was hand-delivered to Washington, DC. After this, the Mid-Dakota Rural Water System project was authorized in a bill signed by President George H. W. Bush entitled P.L. 102-575. In 1992, the board also expanded their number to 13 members by changing the make-up of the board from eleven rural directors to ten rural directors, two municipal at large and one director from the City of Huron. Duane Aymar, Miller had previously resigned from the board so the remaining ten rural directors stayed on; Dr. John Carr, Miller and Gene Robbennolt, Gettysburg were the municipal at large directors; and Doug Fosheim was the director from the City of Huron.

After authorization, Mid-Dakota would have the funding to pay their staff so the district turned the staff over to the project and worked out an agreement where Mid-Dakota staff worked for the water development district board for a period of time. Central Plains Water Development District is now headquartered in Pierre and has its own separate staff. Staffing for Mid-Dakota has grown from a Manager and Secretary to a staff of 28 in 2019.

Construction on the Mid-Dakota intake began in September of 1994 and the water treatment plant commenced in March of 1995. It was first believed that the project would be completed within a six year period, but with funding below the requested amount on an annual basis, actual completion wasn't until the year 2006 (double that time). In the span of 18 years, a problem was identified and with cooperation of many individuals working on the local, state, and federal levels, a solution was found and Mid-Dakota Rural Water System is that solution.

Project Statistics

Cost - Initially, the Mid-Dakota was estimated to cost $108.4 million dollars. The funding package that was procured with the authorization of the project was $85 million federal grant, $15 million federal loan and $8.4 million state grant. Because of inflation, the numbers have risen and so did everyone's portion of the funding package. The state paid the grant they committed to but not before it rose to $9.67 million. The cost of the rural water system after completion was over $160 million dollars.

Water Source - Missouri River at Corps Bay north of Oahe Dam.

Area Served - Covering a land area of approximately 7,000 square miles including all of Hughes, Sully, Hyde, Hand, Beadle and parts of Potter, Faulk, Spink, Kingsbury, Sanborn, Aurora, Jerauld, Buffalo, and Davison counties.

Population - Mid-Dakota serves more than 32,700 people and is currently serving 14 communities as bulk customers, 2 community systems as bulk customers, 4,696 rural taps (includes individually served towns), 90 special user bulk customers, and 1,641 livestock taps.

Distribution - In 2012 the system had approximately 3,800 miles of distribution pipeline, 140 miles of mainline, and now 17 constructed storage tanks ranging in size from 100,000 to 2,500,000 gallons for a total storage of 12,185,000 gallons. The entire system has been installed using GPS and a state-of-the-art SCADA system allowing the monitoring of the entire Mid-Dakota system.

Treatment Process - The Oahe Water Treatment Plant uses technology called ultrafiltration consisting of submerged membranes. It is designed to process 13.5 million gallons per day (MGD), in 2012 the average output was near 5 MGD. Chlorine and ammonia are added to form chloramines, which is a longer lasting disinfectant. Fluoride is also added to aid in fighting tooth decay. The water has an average of 14.3 grains hardness and there is no softening of the water during the treatment process. The average temperature of the water going in is around 47 degrees while the water leaving the plant is around 50 degrees.

Interim Board

  • Earl Briggs - Interim Board member

    Earl Briggs
    1987

  • Marilou Briggs - Interim Board member

    Marilou Briggs
    1987

  • Susan Hargens - Interim Board member

    Susan Hargens
    1987

  • Duane Aymar - Interim Board member

    Duane Aymar
    1987

Original Board

The original 11-member board:

  • Duane Aymar - original Rural Director

    Duane Aymar
    1988-1992
    Rural Director

  • Susan Hargens - original Rural Director District 3

    Susan Hargens
    Past Chair
    1988-1995
    Rural Director - District 3

  • Kermit Wulff - original Rural Director District 4

    Kermit Wulff
    1988-1996
    Rural Director - District 4

  • Gerald Gregg - original Rural Director District 2

    Gerald Gregg
    1988-2001
    Rural Director - District 2

  • Johnny Gross - original Rural Director District 1

    Johnny Gross
    1988-2001
    Rural Director - District 1

  • Orville Haiwick - original Rural Director District 3

    Orville Haiwick
    1988-2003
    Rural Director - District 3

  • Morris Simon - original Rural Director District 1

    Morris Simon
    Past Chair
    1988-2005
    Rural Director - District 1

  • Donald Olson - original Rural Director District 5

    Donald Olson
    1988-2005
    Rural Director - District 5

  • Eugene Warriner - original District Director District 2

    Eugene Warriner
    Past Chair
    Past Vice-Chair
    1988-2005
    Rural Director - District 2

  • Warren Porter - original Rural Director District 4

    Warren Porter
    Past Sec./Treas.
    1988-2005
    Rural Director - District 4

  • Gerald Buzz Kutzler - original Rural Director District 5

    Gerald "Buzz" Kutzler
    1988-2008
    Rural Director - District 5

Past Directors

  • Doug Fosheim - past Huron Director

    Doug Fosheim
    1992-1993
    Huron Director

  • Ron Volesky - past Huron Director

    Ron Volesky
    1993-1996
    Huron Director

  • Gene Robbennolt - past Municipal at Large

    Gene Robbennolt
    1992-1999
    Municipal at Large

  • Henry Sinkie - past Rural Director District 4

    Henry Sinkie
    1996-2004
    Rural Director - District 4

  • Lyle Zell - past Huron Director

    Lyle Zell
    2003-2005
    Huron Director

  • Dr. John Carr - past Municipal at Large

    Dr. John Carr
    1992-2005
    Municipal at Large

  • Tom Edgar - past Rural Director District 3

    Tom Edgar
    1995-2005
    Rural Director - District 3

  • Wesley Wulff - past Rural Director District 4

    Wesley Wulff
    2004-2007
    Rural Director - District 4

  • Dick Werner - past Huron Director

    Dick Werner
    2005-2009
    Huron Director

  • Lewis Robbennolt - past Rural Director District 1

    Lewis Robbennolt
    2001-2009
    Past Chair
    Rural Director - District 1

  • Leslie Brown - past Rural Director District 2

    Leslie Brown
    2001-2011
    Rural Director - District 2

  • Gary Strasburg - past Rural Director District 3

    Gary Strasburg
    2003-2014
    Rural Director - District 3

  • Robert Jones - past Huron Director

    Robert Jones
    Past Chair
    1996-2014
    Huron Director

  • Bruce Venner - past Rural Director District 2

    Bruce Venner
    2011-2015
    Rural Director - District 2


  • Scott Oligmueller
    2014-2023
    Rural Director- District 3


  • James McGillvery
    2005-2023
    Municipal at Large