Gilbert Gutknecht: “As the House passes the FY2005 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill today, I would like to draw attention to…”

“As the House passes the FY2005 Energy and Water Development appropriations bill today, I would like to draw attention to the Lewis & Clark Rural Water project. While Minnesota has thousands of lakes, southwest Minnesota, in my district, is described as the place the glaciers missed. In fact, Rock County, the southwestern most county in Minnesota, is the only county in my home state that does not have a single lake. To deal with this problem, sixteen communities and five rural water systems joined together in 1990 to create the non-profit Lewis & Clark Rural Water System. This water system project, when completed, will cover an area of 5,000 square miles in southwest Minnesota, northwest Iowa, and southeast South Dakota. The twenty-one members of the Lewis & Clark Rural Water System serve a population of over 200,000 people. Construction on the Lewis & Clark Rural Water Project is underway and moving ahead. The groundbreaking and first official construction took place in August 2003. A large diameter casing and two wells have been installed and the first segment of pipe was installed on June 14, 2004. Another contract, for roughly $15 million, will be awarded in July. This contract, using funds appropriated in FY2004, will complete the Raw Water Pipeline, which will take the untreated water from the well fields to the water treatment plant. This important project will greatly improve quality of life and enhance economic opportunity in my district.”