Iowa Dam maintenance was "an issue" ..going back to at least 2007)

[SoCalDem]

http://www.manchesterpress.com/NewsArchive/2007/Nov/13/news.html

LDRA seeking county’s assistance
by Ken Boesenberg

The Lake Delhi Recreation Association (LDRA) faces a dilemma of sorts and has asked both Delaware County and the State of Iowa for some assistance.

Currently the LDRA is seeking matching funds from both governmental bodies over the next five years to ensure that 1) the necessary upgrades can be made to the dam to keep it operational; 2) to ensure the fact that the LDRA is able to meet their debt payment obligations; and 3) to restore funding for lake water quality efforts which they (LDRA) have historically funded. The funds that are being asked to be matched are the funds generated by the self imposed four dollars per thousand assessment that each property owner at the lake pays in addition to their regular property taxes.

That assessment has been in affect since 1989 when residents voted to support such a tax. The reason at the time was to raise money to help support the expenses of Lake Delhi. Those expenses were primarily dam restoration, fish stocking, Maquoketa River Water Quality Team work, dredging, and dam maintenance and operation. That four dollars per thousand amounts to some $165,000 per year which is enough to take care of all LDRA operational expenses with the exception of dam upgrades and debt payments. to date, more than a million dollars of the residents own money has been put into upgrading and repairing the 1927 vintage dam.

The vast majority of major components of the dam are original pieces.

The wicket gate stop logs are original and are showing signs of extreme wear.

The cable winch system that is used to open and shut the flood gates in the only system of its kind left operational in Iowa. It to was the original system installed in 1927. The system was only used in the years of 1927 to 1929 when it was replaced by a screw system.

The coordination that it takes to raise the large flood gates evenly with such an antiquated system his nearly impossible to describe.

This is the winch system that is used to raise and lower the flood gates on the Lake Delhi dam. The cables have been replaced but other than that the entire winch system is the same as it was in the late 1920’s when the dam was constructed. The technology was only used during two years of dam construction before using a screw type technology that is much more safe and efficient.

Pictured at right are the original wicket gate stop logs that are beginning to show their true age of some 80 years. They need to be replaced with gates that are made of stainless steel. Also the concrete that the gates set on is so dished out that the replacement timbers that have had to be replaced on the bottom of the gates have to be shaped to fit the wearing concrete.

This is a support beam in the control room below the dam. The rust that has occurred on the beam is due to the leakage coming from the road way above the dam. During moderate rains as much as three inches of water has to be removed from the control room floor.

Another issue may be the possible danger that it subjects the operators to during times of use,including the requirement of dam operators using high voltage electrical equipment, at times during the rain, lightning and thunderstorms. That dam has played an important part in flood control over the years and is getting to the point where more updates and repairs are needed than can be funded by current monies.


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To date the LDRA has been able secure some minimal financing from the State of Iowa through grant programs and appropriations.

There are other funding opportunities available from several forms of state avenues, however, the vast majority of those require that there be some county involvement with the project that is being funded. Currently without any county involvement those funding opportunities are of no assistance to the LDRA and their dilima. LDRA representatives emphasize that what they are seeking from both the county and the state are just five years of matching funds.

Based on the current $165,000 that the LDRA currently receives the matching fund total over five years would amount to $1,650,000. It is felt that that would be enough to ensure the LDRA’s ability to meet the objectives set out at the beginning of this article. In their meeting with the Delaware County Board of Supervisors last Monday representatives of the LDRA emphasized that they were asking to the county to match only the monies that the private residents are paying now.
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[starroute]

1. And there were "devastating floods" there in 2008

http://www.lakedelhi.com/dredge.php

In 2004 the Lake Delhi Recreation Association, Inc. entered into an 18-month dredge project at Lake Delhi. The project cost over $2.5 million dollars and cleaned out more than 12 areas around the lake. Fundraising continues to repay the loans for dredging, along with a major portion of tax dollars that the LDRA raises through the Benefitted Tax District.

The summer of 2008 brought devastating floods to our lake more than once. As a result many areas that were dredged, partially filled back in. With the help of FEMA, a dredge project at the lake will begin again. FEMA will not re-pay any of our outstanding loans nor will they dredge any areas that were not previously dredged. They will only bring our lake back to the levels they were prior to the floods of 2008. We still need your financial support to continue to re-pay our original loans.