Rural

EMERY, S.D. – It took eight years of planning, nearly $5 million and countless hours of paperwork, but this small town finally has new asphalt streets. Residents of Emery – a Hanson County town of about 450 people and home to a crucial grain elevator – endured failing streets for decades, then

As part of its ongoing Rivers at Risk project, South Dakota News Watch reached out to the two major party candidates for South Dakota governor to ask what each would do to reduce pollution and improve the quality of state waterways. Here are statements emailed to News Watch by U.

As South Dakota and most other states rely on voluntary efforts by farmers to treat pollution and limit runoff – historically with only limited success – a new regulatory approach in Minnesota is showing that mandating water protection methods can make a significant difference. A 2015 law that is now fully taking

Fixing the aging, often overworked systems that treat municipal wastewater in South Dakota would cost nearly $160 million, a cost borne mostly by state residents whose drinking water could be at stake. Officials with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources said in an email to News Watch that

Two separate scientific studies released in the past year reveal serious human health concerns for South Dakota’s four most prominent waterways: Rapid Creek, the Big Sioux, Cheyenne and Missouri rivers. One study showed that Rapid Creek and the Big Sioux River host genetic markers for the most dangerous form

Part of a series of stories examining river quality in South Dakota.

Water quality advocates say the state of South Dakota acted prematurely in reporting last week that human health was not at risk from high ammonia releases at the Smithfield Foods plant in Sioux Falls. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources filed limited public notice before the violations stopped and