There is a new face on the Lake Agassiz Water Authority (LAWA) Board of Directors. Alan Idso has served on the Cass Rural Water Users District Board of Directors for the past four years. When Mark Johnson retired from the Cass Rural Water Users and LAWA Boards earlier this year, Alan stepped into the LAWA Director role to represent Cass Rural Water Users.

“As a rural water user, I have always had some interest in how the water system delivers water to all of Cass County and beyond. I knew several of the board members before I joined the Cass Rural Water Users board and I thought this is a good group of people to work with. It was the right time for me to serve on the board,” says Alan.

Rural water plays a role in multiple facets of Alan’s life. A few years after he graduated from NDSU with a degree in Crop and Weed Science, he went to work for The Arthur Companies. Twenty-five years later, he’s still with the organization and works in Ayr, North Dakota. In addition to his career and water board responsibilities, Alan has been the Treasurer/Clerk of Erie Township for more than 20 years. He lives on a farm site outside of Erie with his wife, Kari, and sons, Isaac and Ian. The Idso family tries to go on a few camping trips each year and Alan and the boys like to ride snowmobiles in the winter.

The impact the Red River Valley Water Supply Project (RRVWSP) will have on Cass County and beyond is not lost on Alan. The emergency and supplemental water supply is co-sponsored by LAWA and Garrison Diversion Conservancy District. Alan says the additional water supply will be of critical importance. 

“With the continued population growth around the Fargo area, not to mention the entire Red River Valley, the demand for clean, quality water will continue to increase,” he explains. “Being highly dependent on precipitation to supply surface water for a growing population is a risk if the region enters a prolonged dry period. Having another source of water is critical to our state’s population and economy.”

“In my area of the state, I don’t think a lot of people realize that this project is being built and has pipe in the ground.  Around Fargo people see all the construction associated with the FM Diversion project to redirect excess water around the city.  But as people who work with water know, the Red River can run low just as easily as it can flood, and the Red River Valley Water Supply is an equal project to manage flow in our critical waterway,” explains Alan.

In his short time thus far on the LAWA Board, Alan says he has already learned a lot about the RRVWSP. “I look forward to continuing to learn more and being part of such an important project for North Dakota,” he says.