Official visit to Fargo-Moorhead flood project

Senior Army official yesterday visited the Fargo, N.D. /Moorhead, Minn., flood risk management project.

USACE, St. Paul District and Metro Flood Diversion Authority hosted Jaime A. Pinkham, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and Acting Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, in Fargo.

The purpose of Pinkham’s visit was to tour the Fargo-Moorhead flood risk management project currently under construction.

While in Fargo, Pinkham met with Corps of Engineers and Diversion Authority officials and received a status update on the project.

Pinkham is responsible for establishing policy direction and supervising the Department of the Army functions relating to all aspects of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works program.

These responsibilities include programs for conservation and development of the nation’s water and wetland resources, flood control, navigation and aquatic ecosystem restoration.

The Fargo-Moorhead flood risk management project involves the construction of a 36-mile long diversion channel located in North Dakota that will direct floodwater around the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area.

The project will temporarily store up to 200,000 acre-feet of flood water immediately upstream of the diversion channel inlet to minimize downstream impacts.