The Canadian Government has taken issue with the program, as it moves water from the Missouri River basin, which flows south into the United States, to the Souris River basin, which flows north into Canada, possibly introducing foreign microbes into the water supply.
In 1998, voters in Minot decided to levy a 1% sales tax to go towards the construction of NAWS, but it is not enough to complete the program without federal funding.
Despite the lack of international approval, a federal judge has allowed non-treatment portions of the project to proceed.
As of 2007, less than a mile of the 36" pipeline is left to go in the ground between Minot and Lake Sakakawea, generally paralleling Highway 83.
If the environmental statement is finished in spring 2008, intake and treatment facilities could be built over the next two years, and water could be piped to Minot in 2010.