Sheldon and Sibley To Get Better Access to Water Due to Biden’s Infrastructure Law

The cities of Sheldon and Sibley will finally get connected to the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System, which will allow the two communities to have better access to clean water for less money.

Lewis & Clark is a water system that, once completed, will service 20 member cities and rural water systems throughout southeast South Dakota, southwest Minnesota, and northwest Iowa–a total of 350,000 people. The water comes from a series of wells that are tapped into an aquifer adjacent to the Missouri River, and the system’s goal is to provide a more cost-efficient way of improving the quality of life for those who live in its member cities.

The addition of Sheldon and Sibley to the system is due to a $75.5 million investment provided by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“Rural water projects get to the heart of President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law by building resiliency and supporting local economies,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. “Providing this project-specific funding underscores the administration’s commitment to helping rural and tribal communities access safe drinking water and the water treatment infrastructure they deserve.”

For Lewis & Clark, this latest investment will be used to install new pipes, booster pumps and storage reservoirs, and support treated water pipeline segments.

According to the project’s website, construction on the system is 86% complete, and water is currently being delivered to 15 of its 20 members, including Sioux Center, Hull, and Rock Rapids in Iowa.

As of May, $236 million in funds have been allocated through the infrastructure law to provide Iowa residents with clean and safe drinking water, as well as to improve water infrastructure throughout the state, according to the White House. Nearly a third of these funds will go towards lead pipe and service line replacement; according to the National Resources Defense Council, there are roughly 160,000 lead service lines in the state of Iowa.

As South Dakota Public Broadcasting notes, the money allocated to the Lewis & Clark Regional Water System is a “historic investment,” as the system has yet to be completed due to “sporadic funding.” The project was incorporated all the way back in 1990. In 1999, Senate Bill 244 awarded the system its first federal funds and construction began in 2004, but a 2011 earmark ban led to irregular progress on the pipeline. In all, the project has been nearly 35 years in the making. 

“There were many years where Lewis & Clark was only getting two, three, four, five million dollars a year,” Troy Larson, executive director of the project said last year. “The infrastructure bill has certainly been a gamechanger for us, and we’re thankful to the administration and the tri-state delegation for supporting us through the years.”

“Under the Biden-Harris administration, the department is committed to bringing clean, reliable drinking water to rural communities to help strengthen resilience to climate change,” Interior Assistant Secretary for Water and Science Tanya Trujillo said in a statement. 

Larson says this latest investment may cut 10 years off the project’s completion date.