City of Aberdeen – Notice of Categorical Exclusion Determination

CITY OF ABERDEEN

Aberdeen, South Dakota C462072-04

DATE July 17, 2025

CATEGORICAL EXCLUSION DETERMINATION

FOR THE PROPOSED PROJECT WITHIN THE CITY OF ABERDEEN, SOUTH DAKOTA

The South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (DANR) conducted a review of a proposal from the city of Aberdeen for a Water Tower and Transmission Line project.

The city of Aberdeen is proposing to construct a 1.5-million-gallon elevated water storage tower with 16-inch transmission lines. The tower would be installed in the northeast part of Aberdeen to supply additional water to existing users in that part of town.

The city of Aberdeen was awarded a $ 10,000,000 Drinking Water State Revolving Fund loan. The loan has a rate of 3.5 percent and a term of 20 years. Current residential water rates are

$35.50 per customer per month for 5,000 gallons usage. Aberdeen has pledged a project surcharge to repay the loan. This surcharge will be $6.75 per user per month.

Listed below are the reasons for granting a categorical exclusion:

1. The project is solely directed toward minor rehabilitation of existing facilities, functional replacement of equipment, or towards the construction of new ancillary facilities adjacent or appurtenant to existing facilities.
2. The project involves new distribution lines or storage facilities within the developed portion of the community.
3. No comments requiring mitigative action were received from the South Dakota State Historic Preservation Office, South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks, United States Department of Interior, United States Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resource Conservation Service, or through the public participation process.
4. An environmental review was conducted by the Economic Development Administration (EDA), and DANR concurs with EDA’s Finding of No Significant

The proposed action does not involve any serious local objections, nor does it meet any of the criteria for not granting a categorical exclusion as specified in [Section 6.505(c) (i) through (iii) of 40 CFR Part 6, Subpart E].

The Aberdeen Water Tower and Transmission Line project will not affect any historical or archaeological resources. The project should have no direct or indirect adverse effects on plant

life or wildlife. No other environmentally sensitive issues have been identified in the planning of this project.

The review process did not indicate that significant environmental impacts would result from the proposed project. Consequently, a preliminary decision not to prepare an EIS has been made.

This action is taken on the basis of a careful review of the engineering report, environmental information documents, correspondence with responsible governmental agencies and other supporting data which are on file at the Division of Financial and Technical Assistance, Environmental Funding Program, DANR, Pierre, South Dakota, and are available for public scrutiny at the Aberdeen city office in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Comments supporting or disagreeing with this decision may be submitted to [email protected] for consideration by DANR after publication of the Categorical Exclusion Determination. After evaluating the comments received, DANR will make a final decision. /s/ Tina McFarling, Administrator

Published once on July 17, 2025, at the total approximate cost of $39.30 and may be viewed free of charge at www.sdpublicnotices.com and www.aberdeeninsider.com