Statewide Water Shortages and Declining Aquifers Push South Dakota Toward Critical Crossroads

While geologists and hydrologists can meticulously analyze scientific charts and graphs to understand the mounting water challenges facing South Dakota, it takes only a brief, sobering visit to Bear Butte State Park near Sturgis for a non-scientist to witness the stark reality of vanishing water resources.

The lake that traditionally serves as the picturesque centerpiece of the state park is usually a sprawling 215-acre expanse of fresh water extending up to 15 feet deep. It has long been a thriving habitat for walleye, crappie, and catfish, alongside a diverse array of waterfowl and wildlife. But this year, as lingering drought conditions have combined with critically falling levels in underground aquifers, the lake has nearly vanished. Today, only a small, shallow strip of surface water remains, with depths measured in mere inches instead of feet. A popular fishing pier now stands isolated, surrounded by hundreds of yards of baked-out lakebed and dried-up vegetation.

For the past several years across South Dakota, the compounding pressures of a rising population, long-range drought cycles, and increased residential, commercial, and agricultural water consumption have converged to trigger widespread water shortages. Scientific readings consistently show that many of the state’s vital underground aquifers are drier than normal or are suffering from severely reduced water pressure caused by lower overall volumes. Yet, the physical evidence of this crisis is increasingly visible to the naked eye.

Severe water level drawdowns in West River areas are now clearly apparent at major reservoirs, including Angostura, Belle Fourche, and Pactola. Similar declines are evident along the run of Spring Creek through the central Black Hills, which has completely run dry in isolated spots where fresh water flowed freely for generations. Rural ranches and homesteads across the western half of the state have seen their wells run low or go entirely dry, creating significant daily hardships for agricultural producers and rural residents.

In East River areas, the warning signs of a pending shortage are materializing at rural water systems that are no longer able to accept new residential, commercial, or agricultural customers. These systems are hitting hard limits because the aquifers they rely upon are either drying up entirely or are fully committed under existing long-term water rights contracts. Even though some areas in the northeastern corner of the state have enjoyed high rainfall totals this year, the pervasive low water levels elsewhere continue to generate region-wide concern among resource managers and local officials.

Some of the most critical shortages have begun to manifest within the Big Sioux Aquifer, a vital underground resource that serves several communities in eastern South Dakota, including the rapidly growing areas in and around Sioux Falls.

"It’s definitely a statewide issue," said Jay Gilbertson, manager of the Brookings-based East Dakota Water Development District. "If we continue to draw too much water, we’re going to be in trouble."

Gilbertson and other water experts share a deep-seated concern that persistent drought conditions are preventing aquifers from recharging adequately at a time when the number of newly drilled water wells is on a steady, uninterrupted upward trajectory.

"At some point down the line, if the growth continues, we’ll reach a point where all the currently available water supply will be in use," Gilbertson cautioned. "In that case, the next family or business that comes to South Dakota will have to bring their own water."

Water Woes Drawing Greater Attention

State Senator Helene Duhamel, a Rapid City Republican who has taken a leading role in efforts to secure new and sustainable water sources for the state, noted that mounting water anxieties are driving intense discussions and accelerating the development of major new water project proposals. These initiatives include potential expansions of existing systems in the East River region and a heavily debated proposal to construct a major Missouri River pipeline stretching all the way to the Black Hills.

"As a state, we’ve got to start to recognize that we’re in trouble if the aquifers can’t recharge fast enough and our lakes and reservoirs start to dry up," Duhamel said. "It’s scary with our population growth and these cycles of drought that appear to be increasingly severe."

Duhamel participated in a comprehensive water resources informational meeting held in Sioux Falls in late October, where representatives from several rural water systems shared detailed plans for expansion projects that could total an estimated $13 billion over the coming decades.

In western South Dakota, unlike the eastern half of the state, very few local water systems tap directly into the Missouri River. While the Missouri is widely viewed as a nearly inexhaustible source of fresh water, it is also a resource that could someday be aggressively claimed by other thirsty downstream states. Infrastructure projects designed to bring more Missouri River water to East River communities are currently underway or in advanced planning stages, while studies regarding a dedicated Missouri River pipeline to the western half of the state continue.

In the interim, many West River municipalities and special water districts have drilled deep wells into the Madison, Inyan Kara, or Minnelusa aquifers to secure safe drinking water for their residents. According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey, fewer than a dozen municipal wells in four major Black Hills counties drew water from these deep underground formations back in 1960. Today, there are nearly 100 such active wells tapping these finite underground supplies. Historical data shows that the number of smaller systems and individual private users tapping the aquifers has also risen steadily over time.

SD Uranium Mines Seek Billions of Gallons

Scientists are expressing growing apprehension regarding water levels in the nation’s largest underground water source, the Ogallala Aquifer, which spans eight states across the central United States from South Dakota down to Texas. The massive aquifer supplies approximately one-third of all the water used for irrigation within the nation’s primary agricultural breadbasket.

A 2022 NASA Earthdata analysis revealed that the Ogallala is simply not recharging from precipitation fast enough to keep pace with heavy water extraction driven by intensive human activity, causing water levels to drop by as much as 200 feet in certain locations.

"The Ogallala Aquifer provides over 30% of the water for irrigation used in the country. However, overuse is rapidly depleting this aquifer, threatening those who depend on this resource," the mapping analysis concluded.

Simultaneously, water use anxieties are escalating sharply in the southern Black Hills due to active commercial proposals to mine for uranium in the region. The Dewey-Burdock in-situ uranium mining project, proposed by Powertech USA—a subsidiary of enCore Energy—would utilize billions of gallons of water annually from the Inyan Kara and Madison aquifers to extract subsurface uranium across more than 12,000 acres of land located northwest of Edgemont.

This specialized in-situ mining method utilizes a closed-loop system that circulates groundwater treated with oxygen and carbon dioxide to dissolve and capture underground uranium, which is subsequently pumped to the surface for separation and collection. Although the project was initially proposed nearly 15 years ago and has been bogged down by extensive legal challenges, federal permit approvals were secured earlier this year.

According to formal water-use applications filed recently with the South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR), the company proposes drilling 1,000 individual wells into the Inyan Kara aquifer to pump nearly 2.4 billion gallons of water per year, resulting in an estimated net water removal of 89 million gallons annually. Furthermore, the company has proposed drilling two wells into the deeper Madison aquifer to remove approximately 83 million gallons per year.

Company representatives maintain that they will fully restore the affected aquifers by maintaining the continued circulation of clean water through the wells until local water quality reaches levels near pre-existing conditions.

Public comments on the project are being accepted by the DANR, and a formal evidentiary hearing before the South Dakota Water Management Board is scheduled. Both proposals have already received recommendations for approval from the chief engineer of the state’s water rights program.

Drought and Water Use Impacts on the Rise

While large, deep-water Black Hills aquifers such as the Madison, Minnelusa, and Inyan Kara retain sufficient total volume to provide adequate supplies for now, many smaller, shallower alluvial sources tapped by individual users are currently dry or rapidly approaching that threshold.

Jeremy Kientz, a fisheries supervisor for the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, noted that low seasonal precipitation levels are the primary driver behind the depletion of Bear Butte Lake, which does not receive water inflows from a natural spring or creek. However, Kientz emphasized that declining regional aquifer levels also play a significant role in the ongoing drying up of stock ponds and small lakes across the broader state landscape.

"It’s all interrelated," Kientz said. "When the aquifer is full, it’s easier for water to flow above ground, but when the aquifer is low, more water is seeping into the ground."

Highlighting another clear indicator of widespread aquifer depletion, Kientz pointed out that a creek-fed pond located behind the GFP Outdoor Campus West in Rapid City dried up entirely over the summer months.

"We’ve definitely seen less water flow from springs," he noted. "There’s less pressure from the aquifer coming up from those upwellings."

Even wells that do not extend deep enough into the major bedrock aquifers are beginning to experience reduced flows, according to Mark Anderson, an adjunct geology professor at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City and a former director with the U.S. Geological Survey. Observation wells maintained by the USGS in and around the Rapid City area have revealed a clear downward trend in the heads, or peak static water levels, of local wells.

Anderson noted that a monitoring well at Jackson Springs along Rapid Creek in Cleghorn Canyon tracks the aquifer level of a primary water source for the entire Rapid City metropolitan area. The latest USGS data shows a steady, concerning decline in that water level.

The widespread lack of winter snowpack and summer rain across the Black Hills region, coupled with the ongoing decline in aquifer levels, presents a worrisome outlook for the entire state. Because the high-elevation Black Hills serve as a critical recharge zone for surface and subsurface water systems extending all the way to the Missouri River and even further east, disruptions here carry far-reaching consequences, Anderson explained.

"It’s not a pending disaster, but if we have another year of drought like this, we’re going to have big concerns in South Dakota," Anderson warned. "We can survive a tough year, but if we have these conditions persist, the succession of low precipitation years is certainly a problem."

Legislature Appears Poised to Act

Growing apprehension over shrinking water supplies prompted at least one West River lawmaker earlier this year to question whether strict limitations on future residential and commercial growth may soon be necessary in the Black Hills. In the meantime, until major new pipeline infrastructure projects can be brought online, water experts are urgently pressing for enhanced water conservation measures and expanded water reuse programs to safeguard existing supplies.

State Representative Mike Derby has co-chaired an ad hoc legislative water development work group that convened twice over the summer months to educate lawmakers regarding the complexities of local water systems and the emerging shortages appearing across the state.

"It’s a bit of a wake-up call when we see wells drying up in South Dakota," said Derby, a Rapid City Republican who also co-chairs the Legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee.

One of Derby’s primary objectives is to instill a sense of immediate urgency among his legislative colleagues regarding a crisis that, to some observers, can feel comfortably distant in the future.

"We’re in that timeline where it’s like, ‘I’m going to plant a tree knowing that I’m not going to be around to get shade from it,’" he said.

Duhamel added that a major legislative focus during the upcoming 2027 session will center squarely on identifying and securing substantial funding streams to pay for costly long-term water infrastructure projects.

"Everybody is waking up to this big problem we have," Duhamel said. "The true thing that holds up water projects is that you can only grow at the pace of funding."

During a prior legislative session, Duhamel served as the prime sponsor of Senate Bill 231, successfully establishing the Water Infrastructure Development Fund with an initial seed investment of $3 million in state general funds dedicated to providing grants and loans for future rural water projects. Duhamel indicated she plans to push for a significant funding increase for the account during the upcoming session, potentially exploring alternative revenue sources such as the contractor’s excise tax or unclaimed property funds.

"Water is life and there’s nothing more basic," she said. "It’s also the fuel for economic development because if we want to grow this state, we can’t do it without water."

Duhamel expressed confidence that bipartisan legislative support is steadily building across the state for robust investments in critical water resource infrastructure.

"It’s kind of a nonpartisan no-brainer to do something that really matters for our children and our grandchildren," she concluded.