A deluge of opinions

(Today's print column)

Bring up flood protection, and you'll get a deluge of opinion.

A lot of the questions I'm getting ahead of next week's sales tax extension vote are from folks who have doubts about protection measures the tax is supposed to fund in Cedar Rapids. I've heard arguments that a city-backed west side protection plan would create a “funnel” effect, swamping federally funded east-side measures and spawning problems up and downstream. Some have insisted that west-side protection goes against the wishes of the Army Corps of Engineers.

I'm no expert. So I spoke with Tom Heinold, the Corps' project manager for construction of east-side protection in Cedar Rapids.

Heinold's team is designing levees and flood walls on the east bank of the Cedar River from north of Quaker to south of Cargill. The Corps' goal is to protect the east side from a 2008-level flood, plus 3 feet. That's 140,300 cubic feet of water per-second rushing through the heart of the city.

Heinold's east-side system is being designed in such a way that anticipates and accommodates the potential construction of west-side protection. So the Corps does not oppose a west-side system, even though its models and formulas recommend federal funding only for the east side. It's actually preparing for the possibility of walls and levees on both banks.

“We're going to build our project assuming that eventually there will be something on the west side, because I think it would be really stupid to provide something on the east side, then build something on the west side, and have the east side fail,” Heinold said.

Still, unless circumstances change, the Corps will not design or build west-side protection. The city would need to hire private firms to do the job. There's a lot of talk about the city's “preferred plan,” but we really won't know exactly what a west-side plan looks like until it's designed. And, because design costs millions of dollars, that won't happen until funding is in place.

But once completed, the Corps would inspect those plans. And if they meet Corps' specifications, the west-side system would become a “Public Law 8499” project that would be folded into the Corps' support system. So if west-side structures were damaged by flooding, the Corps would pay for 80 percent of repair costs.

If both sides are protected, what happens downstream? “The downstream effects are, basically, non-existent. We're not going to flood anybody downstream,” Heinold said.

As my deadline passed Monday, I was still waiting for an answer on the impact upstream. I'm still waiting, but I hope to get information soon and share it. Stay tuned.