The South Dakota Department of Ag and Natural Resources is allocating $175 million in federal grants.
The American Rescue Plan Act money is going toward grants for drinking water, wastewater system improvements and the state’s riparian buffer initiative. The department is awarding $105 million in grants to nearly thirty water districts and rural water systems to improve drinking water across the state.
Another $65 million is going toward almost 20 cities and sanitary districts for waste and stormwater projects.
The department is investing $5,000,000 into riparian buffer grants. A riparian zone is a conservation practice that encourages vegetation growth along the edges of rivers, stream and lakes to help improve water quality.
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The full list of approved grants:
Aurora-Brule Rural Water received an additional $846,775 ARPA grant to install a new parallel water main, a new water storage reservoir, multiple loops within the system, a booster station, and make distribution line improvements. Previous funding for this project was awarded in April 2022
BDM Rural Water System received an additional $1,738,345 ARPA grant to construct a new water treatment plant, install a water reservoir, install pipe to expand the water system and loop lines for added redundancy, and replace water meters. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Black Hawk Water User District received an additional $254,340 ARPA grant to install a new water main crossing I-90 near Exit 52. The existing crossing is undersized and not operating effectively. Previous funding was awarded in June 2022.
Brookings received an additional $8,000,000 ARPA grant to construct a new lime softening water treatment facility along 34th Avenue. The new treatment plant will require the installation of raw and finished water lines to feed into the distribution system and includes the construction of six new municipal wells and a new transmission main. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Brookings-Deuel Rural Water System received an additional $1,357,708 ARPA grant to construct water main to interconnect the system’s two primary water sources, the Joint Well Field, and the Clear Lake Water Treatment Plant. The project will also include installation of a new water main to the Lake Cochrane service area to improve low pressures around the lake during periods of peak water use. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Clay Rural Water System received an additional $2,488,710 ARPA grant to construct two ground storage reservoirs near the existing Greenfield reservoir and the Wakonda Water Treatment plant. A new booster station at the Greenfield reservoir and distribution line improvements to provide additional capacity and accommodate a Highway 46 construction project is also included. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Davison Rural Water System received an additional $189,255 ARPA grant to install a water line to parallel and loop existing mains and make upgrades to its automatic meter reading technology. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Fall River Water User District received an additional $1,400,007.62 ARPA grant to install a submersible pump and finish piping at the existing Fairburn well, construct a pump station and well house, a control building/pump station, a ground storage reservoir at the well site, pipeline to connect the Fairburn well to the existing distribution system in two locations, and a ground storage reservoir along the new pipeline route. Previous funding was awarded in June 2022.
Grant-Roberts Rural Water System received an additional $1,023,690 ARPA grant to add transmission capacity allowing the system’s two reservoirs to fill during high water use periods. Additional pipeline looping and parallels will be completed to distribute water to existing and new customers and improve the reliability of the water system. The project also includes installation new pipeline and other appurtenances to allow the town of Corona to access the Grant-Roberts Rural Water System. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Hanson Rural Water System received an additional $548,388 ARPA grant to install water lines to parallel and loop of existing mains and make upgrades to its automatic meter reading technology. Previous funding was awarded April 2022.
Joint Well Field, Inc. received an additional $1,440,459 ARPA grant to construct a new gravity filtration water treatment plant including aeration, detention, filtration, transfer pumping, raw water supply wells, and generation equipment. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Kingbrook Rural Water System received an additional $4,972,298 ARPA to upgrade the Badger pump station, DeSmet water treatment plant, Chester water treatment plan, Oakwood pump station, and the Orland pump station. The project also involves construction of an elevated tank near Arlington and booster pump station near Bryant, and relocation and resizing of pipeline segments along Highway 25 north of DeSmet. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Lead-Deadwood Sanitary District received an additional $339,623 ARPA grant to abandon the Hanna raw water transmission pipeline and install new ductile iron or steel pipe. Both low- and high-pressure lines will be re-routed to bypass the Englewood power generation facility, and a portable backup power generator will be purchased for use at multiple locations. Previous funding was awarded in June 2022.
Lead-Deadwood Sanitary District also received an additional $136,662 ARPA grant to make improvements to the wastewater treatment plant serving Lead, Deadwood, Central City, and other unincorporated areas. Improvements include replacement of five aeration blowers, installation of fine bubble diffusers and aeration piping, and installation of a blower control system. Previous funding was awarded In June 2022.
Lewis & Clark Regional Water System received an additional $5,000,000 ARPA grant to construct two solids contact units, a sludge thickener, three lime sludge drying beds, and a three million gallon clear well and high service pump station to increase the treatment plant capacity. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Lincoln County Rural Water System received an additional $571,211 ARPA grant to install transmission improvements to serve newly constructed residences. The project will install approximately 16.5 miles of pipeline and includes looping of dead-end lines. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Mid-Dakota Rural Water System received an additional $6,830,882 ARPA grant to update the existing water system by installing an advanced metering infrastructure system, paralleling of pipe, addition of a new backwash recovery system, and additional membrane capacity. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Mni Wašté Water Company received an additional $6,545,503 ARPA grant to install a treated water pipeline, a water tower, and appurtenances including valves, pumps, and air releases. This project replaces the undersized pipeline along Highway 63 and will serve as the main pipeline for the northern tier of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Randall Community Water District received an additional $10,000,000 ARPA grant to address increasing demand among existing customers and supply water to the City of Mitchell. The proposed improvements will provide enough capacity to allow Mitchell to connect its redundant water line to the system. Booster stations, storage facilities, and an upgrade to the Platte Water Treatment Plant are necessary to complete the proposed improvements. Previous funding was awarded in June 2022.
Rapid City received an additional $8,000,000 to make improvements to its wastewater treatment facility by adding secondary clarifiers and hydraulic improvements which allows the South Plant to assume all inflow while meeting permit limits. This project would also decommission the North Plant. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Shared Resources received an additional $10,000,000 ARPA grant for a treatment plant, well field, distribution pipeline, and two storage tanks. Shared Resources is a joint effort between Minnehaha Community Water Corporation and the Big Sioux Community Water System. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Sioux Falls received an additional $8,000,000 ARPA grant to make substantial improvements throughout the city’s wastewater reclamation facility and to expand the plant capacity to accommodate growth in the region. Previous funding was awarded in May 2022.
Sioux Rural Water System received an additional $765,583 ARPA to construct a new elevated tank in the southwest part of the system and two segments of pipeline to increase pressure and capacity. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
South Lincoln Rural Water System received an additional $2,444,355 ARPA grant to make system wide improvements including installing an elevated water tank, a new pump station, and a new water treatment plant. This project addresses capacity issues in portions of the distribution system and increasing demands within the existing service area. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Southern Black Hills Water System received an additional $542,432 ARPA grant to extend the existing water system main from the two wells at Paramount Point Subdivision approximately 5 miles northeast to the Spring Creek Acres Subdivision to provide redundancy. The project will also construct a new well, booster pump station, new elevated storage reservoir, chlorination and SCADA systems, and new pressure reducing valve stations. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
TM Rural Water District received an additional $1,272,908 ARPA grant to install four miles of parallel 12-inch water main to address low water pressure situations during high water demand periods. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
Tripp County Water User District received an additional $2,034,121 ARPA grant to replace two storage tanks, to parallel and loop water lines to increase the water pressure within the system, and to develop a new well field to address water supply issues. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
WEB Water Development Association received an additional $10,500,000 ARPA grant. The funding is part of a much larger project to increase water capacity for WEB and to provide a bulk water connection for Aberdeen and BDM Rural Water. The project is known as the Water Investment in Northern South Dakota or WINS project, undertaken by all three entities with WEB acting as the lead contracting entity at this time. Previous funding was awarded in June 2023.
Western Dakota Regional Water System received an additional $2,165,000 ARPA grant for a feasibility study to explore the use of its Missouri River water to supply a large portion of western South Dakota with a bulk water transmission line conveying Missouri River water to various communities, tribes, and water systems. The current funding will be used to hire an engineering firm to complete facilities plan and preliminary design for the project. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
West River/Lyman-Jones Rural Water System received an additional $602,702 ARPA grant to install PVC water mains serving areas in Mellette, Haakon, and Lyman counties. A new ground storage tank and necessary electrical controls would also be installed in Pennington County. Previous funding was awarded in April 2022.
VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) — Terri Miller Jr. scored 26 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Portland State beat South Dakota 77-71 on Wednesday.
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Keyon Kensie scored 22 points and added 10 rebounds for the Vikings (5-2). Jaylin Henderson finished with 11 points.
Isaac Bruns led the Coyotes (5-4) with 28 points, nine rebounds and four steals. Cameron Fens added 15 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks for South Dakota. Uzziah Buntyn finished with 11 points and two steals.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
South Dakota State University is expanding its graduate offerings with the launch of a new social science Ph.D. program, an interdisciplinary program designed to address complex challenges facing rural communities and society at large.
Approved by the South Dakota Board of Regents in April 2025 and the Higher Learning Commission shortly after, the program will welcome its first cohort of students in fall 2026.
The program is housed in the School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Rather than focusing on a single discipline such as sociology or psychology, the new Ph.D. brings together faculty expertise from across SDSU’s colleges — including nursing, natural sciences, agriculture, pharmacy and allied health professions — to train scholars equipped to tackle today’s “wicked problems.”
Paul Markel
“The world’s complex issues require interdisciplinary teams,” said Paul Markel, professor and director of the School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies.
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The launch of the social science Ph.D. program also marks a new chapter for SDSU’s historic tradition in graduate social science education. The university’s sociology program dates back to 1925, once producing nearly a quarter of all doctorates on campus during its peak. Admissions to the previous sociology Ph.D. were suspended in 2020 due in part to faculty staffing and shifting academic focus.
Rather than simply reviving the former program, faculty and administrators chose to reimagine it. The resulting social science Ph.D. program addresses the current, complex research needs of the university in alignment with Pathway to Premier 2030 and the “R1 Our Way” initiative — SDSU’s commitment to reaching high research activity designation. The program not only advances interdisciplinary research but also increases the number of research doctorates SDSU produces, a key benchmark in the journey toward R1 status.
“The interdisciplinary approach allows complex problems to be taken seriously and explored in depth, so that you can come up with real practical solutions in a way that no single discipline could do alone,” Markel emphasized.
The program’s creation involved a working group of faculty representing multiple disciplines and colleges, including:
Abigail Tobias-Lauerman, School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies
George Tsakiridis, School of American and Global Studies
Heidi Mennenga, College of Nursing
James Amell, College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions
Jason Zimmerman, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Jennifer Zavaleta Cheek, Department of Natural Resource Management
Kimberly Johnson Maier, Department of Geography and Geospatial Sciences
Londa Nwadike, College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences
Shola Aromona, School of Communication and Journalism
Stephanie Hanson, College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions
Tyler Miller, School of Psychology, Sociology and Rural Studies
Members met regularly to design curriculum, define core requirements and develop the program’s first two proposed specializations: 1) environmental and rural development and 2) rural well-being.
“At one point we had rural sociology on our campus,” Markel said. “So even with this program, both specializations represent a rural theme, specifically rural development and rural well-being. It’s honoring and rejuvenating our rural studies roots.”
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The program’s structure allows students to ground themselves in social science theory while applying research methods to practical challenges like sustainable land management or rural health disparities. It also aims to revive SDSU’s historic partnership with SDSU Extension through renewed attention to rural vitality, echoing SDSU’s land-grant mission.
“The rural environment is very complex, and there are incredible challenges in the rural space,” Markel explained. “When we identify a problem in a rural community, whether it’s health care, access to food, education or workforce development, it’s not enough for any one discipline to focus on the problem because we really need to bring in teams and have multiple disciplines looking at the same problem to make a difference.”
From concept to approval, the Ph.D. in social science moved with rare speed in higher education. The initial proposal, written by Markel in collaboration with faculty such as School of Communication and Journalism Director Josh Westwick, School of American and Global Studies Director Christi Garst-Santos and MaryJo Benton Lee, adjunct faculty member and evaluation specialist, was submitted to Dean David Earnest of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences in September 2024. By December, the curricular paperwork was complete, and the program received final Board of Regents approval by April 2025.
The program is now included in SDSU’s Graduate Catalog, with recruitment and marketing underway for the first cohort’s admission in fall 2026. An advisory council composed of faculty from across participating colleges will oversee program evolution and ensure continued interdisciplinary collaboration.
The social science Ph.D. program positions South Dakota State University as one of the few institutions in the nation — alongside models like Syracuse University and Johns Hopkins — to offer an interdisciplinary social science doctorate.
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Dennis Hedge
“I am excited about the impact that the social science Ph.D. program will have on our local communities and university,” SDSU Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Dennis Hedge said. “While providing a significant boost to our university’s Carnegie R1 designation pursuit, this interdisciplinary Ph.D. program will importantly provide graduating students with a solid foundation of perspectives and methods in the social sciences that will serve as a framework for addressing complex issues faced by communities in our state and region. By doing such work, our communities will ultimately be stronger.”
Markel summarized the program’s aim this way: the doctoral training will ground students in social science theory and research methods while requiring them to work with interdisciplinary advisory committees and teams so their research and solutions are applied and relevant to an ever-changing, complex world.
“We want to be able to take the research that comes out of this program and apply it in meaningful ways to the people of South Dakota and the region who are living in rural environments,” Markel said.
South Dakota State Jackrabbits (4-4) at Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (4-2)
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Flagstaff, Arizona; Wednesday, 8 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Jackrabbits -2.5; over/under is 149.5
BOTTOM LINE: Northern Arizona faces South Dakota State after Ryan Abelman scored 20 points in Northern Arizona’s 79-72 victory over the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks.
The Lumberjacks have gone 4-0 at home. Northern Arizona scores 81.2 points and has outscored opponents by 5.5 points per game.
The Jackrabbits are 0-2 in road games. South Dakota State ranks seventh in the Summit League shooting 30.9% from 3-point range.
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Northern Arizona makes 47.9% of its shots from the field this season, which is 7.5 percentage points higher than South Dakota State has allowed to its opponents (40.4%). South Dakota State averages 71.6 points per game, 4.1 fewer than the 75.7 Northern Arizona allows.
TOP PERFORMERS: Zack Davidson is shooting 62.1% and averaging 16.8 points for the Lumberjacks. Abelman is averaging 2.5 made 3-pointers.
Jaden Jackson is averaging 12.1 points and 1.5 steals for the Jackrabbits. Joe Sayler is averaging 11.1 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
