Jenna Ladd | September 27, 2016

Just ahead of major flooding that has plagued northeastern Iowa this month, citizens from communities surrounding the Beaver Creek watershed toured three of six flood control structures in the area that were funded by the Iowa Watersheds Project in 2013.

The project, a part of the Iowa Flood Center’s (IFC) effort to prevent flooding and improve water quality, is the product of a U.S. Department of Urban Housing and Development grant that was awarded to the center following the 2008 floods. The Iowa Watersheds Project provided 75 percent cost-share assistance to landowners to construct water management structures like wetlands and ponds near Beaver Creek, Otter Creek, and South Chequest Creek.

The tour, held on September sixth, marked the completion of the flood prevention structures along Beaver Creek. Participants were bussed to three finished sites along with project engineer Robert Larget, who said that the structures’ designs are encouraging. He said, “The minimal for a hundred-year flood on one site should be in the peak of about twenty-four percent. We have two structures in combination that for that same event will reduce flood flows downstream by about ninety percent.”

Doug Bohlen, a participating landowner near Beaver Creek, said that his structures provide benefits beyond flood control and improved water quality for his family’s land. Bohlen said,

“With my sons and grandsons, it’s going to be good recreation for our family. I’ve always wanted a pond down there, and now there’s one. There’s so many different species of ducks. It’s hard to believe that four days after water started into the pond, there was four swans on it and there was nine sandhill cranes.”

Following the tour, participants listened as IFC civil and environmental engineer Allen Bradley presented an evaluation of the project’s performance. Researchers provided computerized models that are able to predict flood events following major rainfall. Impact differed based on on location, the size of structures, and other factors, but overall, Beaver Creek area residents will see a significant reduction in downstream flooding as a result of the watersheds project.