Posted at: 11/09/2009 2:22 PM

Canadians Wants Board to Handle Devils Lake Fight

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Officials in the Canadian province of Manitoba are pressing their federal government to take the latest disagreement with North Dakota over Devils Lake floodwaters to an international group that referees water disputes.

North Dakota officials are unlikely to favor such a move, however, which could leave a court challenge as the only option for Manitoba - a situation similar to what happened four years ago when the state built a $28 million outlet project to move floodwaters out of the Devils Lake basin.

Since early summer, North Dakota's Health Department has been allowing the state Water Commission to release more lake floodwaters into the Sheyenne River and ultimately the Red River, which flows north into Canada. Health officials might make the change permanent, which Manitoba officials fear could harm their water quality.

Dwight Williamson, deputy minister for the Manitoba Department of Water Stewardship, said provincial officials are pressing their federal government to seek a review before the International Joint Commission, a U.S.-Canada group set up to investigate water disputes along the border. The commission will study a project only if both sides agree.

"While discharges to the Sheyenne River from Devils Lake over the past several years have been close to a trickle, this year North Dakota has been able to pump virtually at full capacity for most of the year," Williamson said.

North Dakota's Water Commission has said the outlet is environmentally sound. The group has never agreed with a Canadian request to bring a Devils Lake issue to the international commission, said Todd Sando, assistant state engineer. Dave Glatt, chief of the state Health Department's environmental health section, said any new request by Canada's federal government to go to the commission would be met "with some skepticism."

"We don't see that we've violated the (1909) Boundary Waters Treaty," he said.

Devils Lake has more than tripled in size since 1993 because of a series of wet years, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. It hit a record level of 1,450.72 feet last summer.

The outlet that drains lake floodwaters into the Sheyenne has been hampered in recent years by permit rules that limited the level of sulfates - a natural laxative - in the river to 450 milligrams per liter of water. The Health Department-approved change last summer to a maximum of 750 milligrams essentially enabled the Water Commission to run the outlet nonstop.

In 2008, the outlet took an estimated one-tenth of an inch of water off the lake. This year, before it was shut down for winter in late October, the outlet lowered the lake level about 2 inches, said Water Commission engineer Bruce Engelhardt.

Engelhardt and Sando said the increase in flood relief has come with no dramatic increase in the level of sulfates downstream. At Valley City, they said, where some residents also are worried about increased sulfates in their drinking water, the maximum level in the Sheyenne last summer was 294 milligrams per liter.

"We're not even approaching that 750 number," Sando said.

Williamson said the potential for a dramatic increase in sulfate levels warrants a review from the international commission.

"We would really like to resolve our long-standing issues around Devils Lake and we believe ... that this is the right way to enter into discussions," he said.

Manitoba took a similar tack in 2005 when the outlet was being built. North Dakota refused to consent to an international commission review. The matter ended up in court and the state Supreme Court ruled against Manitoba and other outlet opponents. Two months later the two countries' federal governments, Manitoba, North Dakota and Minnesota reached agreement on such matters as water filtering and monitoring that cleared the way for outlet operations to begin.

"It's a significantly different project now than what was put in place back in 2005," said Williamson. He declined to speculate on whether Manitoba might seek a court challenge if a commission review does not materialize.

Manitoba is submitting its formal position on the relaxing of the sulfate standings to North Dakota's Health Department. Glatt said a decision could come by the end of the year.