On Oct. 24, the cities of Fargo, N.D., and Moorhead, Minn., moved one step closer to solving a perennial problem within the region: Red River Basin flooding. The U.S. House of Representatives authorized a plan to build nearly $2 billion worth of aqueducts and dams, as well as a 35-mile diversion channel, as part of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act.
The Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Authority, however, is not waiting on federal government approval to get started. Construction continues on making in-town levees—once made of sandbags—permanent, and Denver's CH2M Hill has signed on as the management firm for the Oxbow, Hickson, Bakke Ring Levee, south of Fargo. This initiative will provide a "staging area" to hold several square miles of flood-water during an event.