Walz Announces Funding For Lewis And Clark Rural Water System Moves Forward

Press Release

WALZ ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR LEWIS AND CLARK RURAL WATER SYSTEM MOVES FORWARD

Today, Congressman Walz announced that a key House committee approved $22.3 million in funding for the Lewis and Clark Rural Water System.

"This is fantastic news for southwestern Minnesota," said Walz. "This project is vitally important to hundreds of thousands of people in Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa and I couldn't be happier that my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee have recognized its importance."

Walz said that the funding is included the FY08 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which must next be considered by the full House of Representatives and then be negotiated with the Senate-passed version of the same legislation. A final, compromise version of the legislation still must be passed by both chambers before it goes to the President for his signature.

"This process is far from over and this funding level will not be guaranteed until the bill has been signed into law by the President," Walz said. "But I will continue to work to make sure this funding moves forward, because it is badly needed for the economic and rural development of communities in southwestern Minnesota."

The Lewis and Clark Rural Water System is a unique water project of pipelines that will carry water from the Missouri River to more than 300,000 people in a 5,000 square mile area of Minnesota, South Dakota and Iowa. Each state has committed financial resources to the project, and 17 of the 20 local municipalities participating in this project have prepaid $87 million of their local share of the expenses to help keep inflationary costs at a minimum.

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