The Devils Lake City Commission unanimously rejected an offer from the state of North Dakota to purchase land on which the state wants to build a flood control structure on the Tolna Coulee.
The State Water Commission, meanwhile, has scheduled an audio conference call meeting today to consider its next step, which is expected to be initiating eminent domain proceedings to gain access to the land.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with the state as a partner, plan to begin construction this fall on the Tolna Coulee structure, which is estimated to cost between $10 million and $13 million. A construction bid opening is scheduled next week.
Last week, the City Commission voted to delay any action on the proposed sale, because the city had not received a written purchase proposal from the state. A day after that meeting, the State Water Commission sent a written proposal, offering $46,100 for the land in question.
Mayor Dick Johnson said the state's proposed management plan does not remove enough water from Devils Lake soon enough.
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"It doesn't provide for any significant amount of water to come off the lake in a timely fashion," he said. "We need more water to move, especially from the gravity outlet."
Devils Lake has risen by about 32 feet and quadrupled in size since 1993, reaching a record elevation of 1,454.4 feet earlier this summer.
The state currently has one outlet, on the west end of Devils Lake. Designed to move a maximum of 250 cubic feet per second, the outlet has been operating at about 75 cfs lately, because of mechanical and other problems.
The Tolna Coulee control structure construction is being timed to match the estimated June 2012 completion of two other Devils Lake flood-related projects:
- An $80 million, 350-cfs outlet from East Devils Lake to the Tolna Coulee. Water would be pumped uphill to a divide and then be allowed to flow through an 8-foot-wide underground culvert to the coulee.
- A locally sponsored gravity-flow outlet, estimated at about $10 million, from the south end of Stump Lake directly to the Sheyenne River. The location is south and east of the natural outlet.
The city of Devils Lake, which currently owns the land along the Tolna Coulee where the control structure will be located, near the natural outlet of Stump Lake, has opposed the state's operating plan for the gravity-flow outlet.
The state's operating plan for the gravity outlet calls for a spill elevation of 1,454 feet, which would allow about 93 cfs to flow through the channel to the river, below the control structure. The flows would increase as the gravity outlet erodes, to a minimum elevation of 1,452 feet.
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Devils Lake city and county officials, as well as people living in the flooded upper Devils Lake Basin, want to see the proposed gravity outlet for East Devils Lake naturally erode down to an elevation of 1,446 feet in order to lower lake levels and help to restore land and property.
An NDSU study this past winter estimates the potential agriculture-related economic from of this year's flooding alone to be about $194 million, including $57.6 million to the farm industry, $50.9 million to households and $42.9 million to the retail trade industry.
Reach Bonham at (701) 780-1110; (800) 477-6572, ext. 110; or send e-mail to kbonham@gfherald.com .
