WHY AN OUTLET WON'T WORK

By GARY L. PEARSON, D.V.M., Jan. 23, 2001 (Edited letter submitted for consideration in 2001 ND Legislative Session. Aspects of the current flooding problem at Devils Lake.

• POOR BENEFIT COST RATIO
• EXCESSIVE WETLAND DRAINAGE
• LACK OF PUBLIC SUPPORT

• 1. *INEFFECTIVENESS OF THE STATE WATER COMMISSION'S PROPOSED PROJECTS - *300cfs Emergency Outlet won't work.
• 2. *THE MYTH OF A "WALL OF WATER" - Misinformation regarding a catastrophic overflow.
• 3. *THE CONTRIBUTION OF WETLAND DRAINAGE IN THE DEVILS LAKE BASIN
• 4. *LACK OF PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR AN OUTLET FROM DEVILS LAKE  

1. INEFFECTIVENESS OF THE STATE WATER COMMISSION'S PROPOSED 300 CFS EMERGENCY OUTLET

Enclosed (see link to USGS CORPS FACTS-currently unavailable)is a copy of a September 7, 2000, Corps Facts from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers on "Devils Lake, N.D., Status." I would first like to direct your attention to the paragraph at the bottom of page four, under OUTLET &/ BENEFIT COST RATIO, which begins:

"Economic evaluation of the outlet probability-weighted damages shows that the outlet would not be economically justified, with a benefit-cost ratio of 0.12 to 0.72. These ratios are for a 300-cfs outlet whose operation is constrained by downstream conditions…" (Emphasis added)

Of course, the temporary emergency outlet being proposed by the State Water Commission would cost less than the $110 to $130 million estimated by the Corps for a permanent outlet, but it should be noted that in its June 28, 1999, "Draft Summary Document for the Report to Congress on the Emergency Outlet from Devils Lake, ND to the Sheyenne River," the St. Paul District Office of the Corps explained that one of the reasons for the unfavorable benefit-cost ratio is that:

"a outlet of 300 cubic feet per second (cfs) has limited effectiveness in terms of reducing peak lake levels." (Emphasis added)

Consequently, you will note under OUTLET &/ DESIGN on pages 3 and 4 of the enclosed Corps Facts that:

"… The outlet is currently sized at 480 cubic feet per second (cfs) to prevent the lake from rising above approximately elevation 1448. It would be operated at full capacity for 7 months from May through November… The plan would include purchase of downstream flowage easements and mitigation for added water treatment costs to downstream users. Some impacts of water quality changes and induced flooding may not be mitigatable. The analysis of impacts of operating the outlet at full capacity will be based on no constraints due to downstream channel capacity, water quality criteria, or other impacts…" (Emphasis added)

and at the top of page 5 under OUTLET &/ BENEFIT COST RATIO that:

"… If the average inflow from the last seven years were assumed to occur each year, the benefit-cost ratio would range from 1.75 to 4.0. However, these figures are artificially high since they recognize only gross benefits and have not accounted for adverse operational factors and mitigation requirements, which would result in lower net benefits. Also, unconstrained operation would violate current water quality criteria." (Emphasis added).

Finally, in the June 28, 1999, Draft Summary of its Report to the Congress, the Corps pointed out that even:

"Building a west-end outlet with a discharge rate between 500-600 cfs to help prevent lake rises… would not be capable of keeping up with inflow from an extreme event." In this context , it should be noted that Interim State Engineer Dale Frink is reported by the press to have told the House Natural Resources Committee that:

"What we're trying to do is come up with an alternative that will at least slow down the rise. But if the lake was four or five feet lower today, certainly Devils Lake and the area would be much better off than they are today."

However, no credible data have been provided by the Office of the State Engineer to refute the Corps' conclusions that a 300 cfs outlet would have "limited effectiveness in terms of reducing peak lake levels," or to demonstrate that the lake would, in fact, be four or five feet lower today if the proposed 300 cfs outlet had been in operation since the lake began its dramatic rise in 1993, or that the resulting impacts on downstream flooding and water quality would be acceptable. The fact is, the State Water Commission still has not shown that its proposed 300 cfs temporary emergency outlet could be operated in a manner that would be effective in significantly slowing the rise of the lake, that the downstream impacts would be acceptable, or that the outlet would be economically justified.

2. THE MYTH OF A "WALL OF WATER" -- MISINFORMATION REGARDING A CATASTROPHIC OVERFLOW FROM DEVILS LAKE TO THE SHEYENNE RIVER

"If Devils Lake spills, discharge would flow through a channel to Tolna Coulee and then to the Sheyenne River. Because of the shape of the channel and the soil materials on its bottom (Murphy and others, 1997), erosion would commence immediately and could continue down to an elevation of about 1,447 feet above sea level."

The Forum then cited the Fact Sheet as adding "evidence for outlet" in an August 22, 2000, editorial, stating unequivocally that:

"USGS research suggests a spill into the Sheyenne River would be catastrophic downstream. A discharge would erode sediments in the natural drainage pathways and dump up to 2 million acre feet of water into the river, or about four times the volume of the 1997 flood at Lisbon, N. D. That incredible flood of would be in addition to normal flows in the Sheyenne."

North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan then inserted The Forum editorial in the Congressional Record on September 5, 2000, claiming that it:

"…reaffirms the need to act expediently to build an emergency outlet for Devils Lake before a catastrophic natural spill occurs."

I obtained a copy of the report by Murphy et al. ("The Jerusalem and Tolna Outlets in the Devils Lake Basin, North Dakota" by Edward C. Murphy, Ann M. K. Fritz and R. Farley Fleming, North Dakota Geological Survey Report of Investigation No. 100, 1997) cited in the Fact Sheet, and on August 12, 2000, I wrote to Mr. Gregg J. Wiche of the U. S. Geological Survey in Bismarck (Attachment 4). With my letter to Mr. Wiche, I included copies of two pertinent charts from the report by Murphy et al. that show 7,800 year-old sediments in the Tolna Coulee at elevation 1,449 feet (two feet above the overflow erosion level claimed in the Fact Sheet) and 7,300 year-old sediments at elevation 1,453 feet (only six feet below the current outlet elevation), despite six overflow events having occurred over the past 7,800 years, and 1,100 year-old sediments at elevation 1,458 feet (one foot below the current overflow elevation) despite an overflow 700 years ago.

Mr. Wiche's August 31, 2000, response cited no evidence that significant erosion has occurred in the Tolna Coulee over the past 7,800 years despite the occurrence of six overflow events during that period , and he also wrote a letter to The Forum pointing out that their editorial substantially changed the meaning of statements made in the Fact Sheet.

Consequently, contrary to statements in the Fact Sheet, The Forum editorial and now in the Congressional Record, there is no credible scientific evidence that an overflow of Devils Lake through the Tolna Coulee would erode the sediments in the natural outlet down to 1447 feet and dump two million acre-feet of water into the Sheyenne River, causing a catastrophic spill.

3. THE CONTRIBUTION OF WETLAND DRAINAGE IN THE DEVILS LAKE BASIN TO FLOODING PROBLEMS AT DEVILS LAKE

In an August 26, 2000 letter to the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation inquiring as to the Bureau's position regarding Mr. Sprynczynatyk's citation of their report as proof that increased precipitation is the sole cause of the recent dramatic rise in Devils Lake and that wetland drainage has not been a significant factor,... a copy of the Bureau's October 23, 2000, response, states, in part:

"Finally, misinterpretation of the findings of the report are outside our control. Nothing in our study should be construed as proof that the "sole cause" of the rise in Devils Lake is precipitation, that wetland drainage has not been a significant factor contributing to the rise of the lake, or that wetland restoration in the basin would not be effective in reducing the rate of rise of the lake."

Data from the State of North Dakota shows that between 412,000 and 569,000 acres of wetlands originally existed in the Devils Lake Basin, and that between 201,000 and 358,000 acres of wetlands have since been drained in the basin. Based on a 1983 report on "Water storage capacity of natural wetlands in the Devils Lake Basin of North Dakota" co-authored by current Interim State Engineer Dale Frink, those 201,000 to 358,000 acres of drained wetlands in the Devils Lake Basin had the capacity to store from 309,540 to 541,000 acre-feet of water during a 100-year runoff event, and they had the capacity to store up to a maximum of 343,770 to 612,180 acre-feet of water. Much of that storage would have been renewable every year as a result of evaporation and seepage from those wetlands, but most of that water now is channeled directly to Devils Lake via Channel "A" and Mauvais Coulee from the 22,000 artificial drains approved by the county water boards and the State Engineer, as well as additional thousands of illegal drains, in the basin.

Rather than addressing the State's own data on wetland drainage in the Devils Lake Basin in a substantive and objective manner, however, according to the press:

"State engineers argue that farm runoff represents only a slight fraction of the problem."

4. LACK OF PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR AN OUTLET FROM DEVILS LAKE

"The hearing still hasn't been closed and people can still send in their testimony. We've got to get people from here to write in favor of an outlet. When the Senate has a hearing we have to encourage people from Devils Lake to attend."

Even when the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers held a public hearing on August 30, 1999, in the City of Devils Lake on Governor Schafer's application for a permit to construct an outlet from East Devils Lake to West Stump Lake, few citizens of the area expressed strong support for an outlet. In fact, a September 1, 1999, story in The Devils Lake Journal cited the testimony of only four people supporting the project, and one of those was Bob Harms, Governor Schafer's legal counsel, and another was Dale Frink from the State Engineer's Office.

If the situation at Devils Lake is such a dire emergency as to warrant the circumvention of establish(ed) laws and procedures for the taking of private property, for competitive bidding on a public project, and for demonstrating the operational efficacy, economic justification and environmental acceptability of a public project, why is it necessary for paid proponents such as Mr. Belford "to get people… to write in favor of an outlet"? ...

This information is being presented by People To Save The Sheyenne, a grass roots, nonprofit organization formed in 1997, based in Valley City, North Dakota. Threats to the Sheyenne River: include water from an outlet from Devils Lake or other additional drainage plans that will introduce large amounts of saline water affecting the users of the water, the groundwater, trees and habitat for wildlife. Be an informed citizen.

People To Save The Sheyenne

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