Missouri River analysis helped local stakeholders discuss pursuing the waterway’s benefits

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - 99 people met Wednesday in Mandan for the Missouri River Joint Water Board. The goal of this conference was to understand and pursue benefits of the Missouri River for the state of North Dakota.

Attendees performed SWOT analyses, which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of specific topics. Components of the Missouri River, such as irrigation, recreation, and wildlife were analyzed using the SWOT method.

A common theme running throughout the meeting was to establish rights to the parts of the Missouri River in the state.

“I think everybody knows there is talks of taking water from the Missouri and Mississippi west. Those articles have been the paper lately. Those projects are going to happen sooner or later. So North Dakota needs to lay a claim to that water and put it to use, put it to beneficial use,” said program manager Ken Royse.

The board plans to create a report of their findings and present them to legislators to help start a discussion about the river’s importance in the state.

The board also wanted real people’s concerns about the river to create a comprehensive report.

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