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Next Dakotafire community conversation event is in Webster on May 29

The second in a series of events intended to spark community and regional conversations will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday, May 29, at the American Legion in Webster, S.D.

The event, called a Dakotafire Café, intends to get people talking about the topics presented in the latest issue of Dakotafire magazine, according to Dakotafire Editor Heidi Marttila-Losure.

The May-June issue takes an in-depth look at the increase in installation of drain tile in the eastern Dakotas.

The 19th-century explorer John Wesley Powell predicted that the lack of water would cause problems in the western United States, and he recommended that state lines be drawn according to watersheds instead of according to other political boundaries. He believed this would encourage residents to conserve water instead of fighting over it. He drew a map of the West that suggested what those states could look like. John Lavey of the Sonoran Institute has drawn a national map that follows on the states-by-watershed idea. Click to see a larger version, or go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/108072018@N03/10929250216/.

Water flows across political boundaries, brings conflict with it

The 19th-century explorer John Wesley Powell envisioned developing the political boundaries of the arid American West based on watersheds. More than 120 years ago, he predicted the potential for fights over water. Powell’s watershed boundary vision did not come to pass, but the conflicts he envisioned did—including here in the Dakotas.

Watershed taskforce agrees relief is needed in Day County

A Regional Watershed Advisory Task Force, a legislative committee charged with studying water management issues, held its third meeting in Webster last week where the message from landowners was relief from the ever rising sloughs and lakes.

Groundwater depletion in the United States, 1900-2008

Groundwater levels are down in South Dakota

Groundwater depletion of the Ogalla aquifer has made headlines in recent years, but the Dakota aquifer has also gone down significantly since 1900, according to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Tiling is not the same as drainage

A handful of area farmers convinced the Day County Commission that requiring notices before drain tiling is a step in the wrong direction.

About half of Hecla’s water not making it to customers

Hecla has a water mystery on its hands, and it’s getting costly. “If you look at what we’re billing and what we’re pumping, we are losing about half our water somewhere,” said Hecla Finance Officer Gayle Lloyd.