Senator Tim Johnson took a bus tour of Tea Saturday. Mayor John Lawler showed him around the city, which is one of the fastest growing communities in the state.

Johnson is fighting to secure money for the Lewis and Clark Water Pipeline Project. It would supply drinking water from the Missouri River to Harrisburg, Sioux Falls, and Tea. During the tour, Johnson saw how the drinking water would go to Tea's business district to the school district and everywhere in between.

In December, Johnson secured $26.5 million dollars for the water pipeline project. He said that's short $9 billion dollars of what's needed to complete the project by 2012. On the bus, he said Lawler, "Do you have the water to accommodate the people?"

Johnson's concerns come after President Bush proposed zero dollars in federal funding for the project this year. The senator said, "He just doesn't get it; our need for drinking water in our part of the country."

Yet Johnson is optimistic about the future of Tea and of the Lewis and Clark Water Pipeline Project having said, "I am confidant that we will get money in the next year's budget, but how much remains to be seen."

The senator will spend this week traveling to communities across South Dakota before returning to Washington, D.C. next weekend.

Drew Sandholm can be reached by phone at (605) 373-7372 or by e-mail.