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Brookings County hears Banner Associates’ draft environmental assessment for diversion dike reconstruction
Summary
Banner Associates presented a draft environmental assessment for reconstructing a diversion dike on the Big Sioux River; consultants said the county could pay roughly $300,000 for the dike but must secure NRCS and Corps approvals, while residents remain sharply divided.
Banner Associates gave a public presentation to the Brookings County Drainage Board on June 8 about a draft environmental assessment (EA) that evaluates rebuilding a breached diversion dike on the Big Sioux River.
"My name is Kelly Buscher and I have here also Kent Johnson. We're with Banner Associates," Buscher said, adding the firm had drafted the EA to inform NRCS and Corps decisions and to gather public comment. The firm described the project area about two miles southwest of Brookings and summarized a history in which diversion structures installed in the 1960s eroded before 2011 and since then have carried a significant share of river flow into a western diversion channel.
Banner presented two alternatives: a no‑action alternative that would leave the diversion in its current state and a proposed action to reconstruct a dike that would return most flow to the Big Sioux main channel while allowing a small culverted diversion for livestock and overtopping during high flows. Consultants estimated construction of the dike itself at about $300,000 and said the county planned to self‑fund that work if it proceeds.
The EA is being prepared under the National Environmental Policy Act; Banner told the board the county must also consider federal and state permitting, including a temporary NRCS easement subordination and a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Section 404 permit for any fill in wetlands. Buscher said the EA has been drafted, reviewed with NRCS and the Corps for completeness, and is available for public review while the county evaluates next steps.
Public comment at the meeting reflected a split between landowners who said returning flow to the main channel could restore productive ground and residents who live along the east side of the river and worry that even modest modeled increases in water level could raise flood risk near homes. Commissioners said they would collect further technical answers from Banner and consider the consultant's follow‑up before deciding whether to proceed with permit applications or design work.
The board did not take a final vote on the project. Banner outlined the next steps if the county decides to proceed: finalize the EA, submit an application to NRCS for temporary subordination of wetland easement restrictions (the NRCS review of a complete application typically takes 30–90 days, Banner said), pursue a Section 404 permit with the Corps, and comply with any mitigation and state stormwater and flood‑plain permits that are required.
