$350,000 grant going to water project in Southern Hills

State officials have approved a $350,000 grant that will help continue a water project aimed at eventually bringing drinking water to rural residents and cities throughout the Southern Black Hills.

The state Board of Water and Natural Resources this week approved a $350,000 State Water Resources Management System grant for Southern Black Hills Water System Inc. Other funds have been made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program.

The money will be used to build pipeline from a project well along the 7-11 road west of Buffalo Gap west to about halfway to S.D. Highway 89 south of Pringle, according to Bob Peplinski, a member of the water system board.

Phase One of the project will bring Madison Aquifer water to about 130 families in the area, Peplinski said.

He said the board hoped to put the initial project out for bid within the next 30 to 40 days.

Phase Two of the project will bring water farther west to include several rural subdivisions west of Highway 89.

The project has a permit to drill a second well, Peplinski said.

The water system board hopes to build a system that eventually would pump water along more than 100 miles of trunk line connecting Hermosa, Hot Springs, Edgemont, Pringle, Custer, Hill City and, eventually, Keystone. The line could provide drinking water to as many as 6,000 rural residents of the Southern Hills, where finding drinkable well water is an iffy proposition.

Peplinski said costs for the entire project could reach well over $100 million.

Gov. Mike Rounds recommended the $350,000 funding to the 2009 Legislature, and lawmakers appropriated funds from the state Water and Environment Fund through the Governor’s 2009 Omnibus Water Funding Bill.

“Because of the lack of water supplies in the southern Black Hills, this area needs a regional water system to supply a reliable source of high-quality, safe drinking water to enhance continued economic growth,” Rounds said. “These funds will help keep this much-needed project moving forward.”