Branstad takes stock of Delhi restoration

DELHI - When the restoration of Lake Delhi is complete next year, it will be 'a wonderful recreation area for the state of Iowa,” Gov. Terry Branstad said Friday after getting a progress report on the partially state-funded project.

Branstad said he bought into the project after learning of the financial commitments made by Lake Delhi residents and Delaware County.

Asserting that recreational lakes benefit all Iowans, Branstad noted that the state increased its lake restoration funding to $9 million this year.

With favorable weather this winter, the lake will be refilled by Fourth of July, said Steve Leonard, president of the board of trustees of the Combined Lake Delhi Recreational Facility and Water Quality District.

If bad weather limits construction, the lake probably will not be full again until next Labor Day, Leonard said.

Residents of the lake district have been working to restore the dam since July 24, 2010, when heavy rains in the Maquoketa River watershed washed out the dike that impounded the 450-acre lake.

The $16 million rebuilding project, which got underway in April, is funded by a $5 million state appropriation, as well as $3 million from Delaware County, $1.7 million raised by Lake Delhi residents and a $6 million bond that residents approved overwhelmingly in 2011.

Pat Colgan, a retired civil engineer and volunteer coordinator of the rebuilding effort, said contractors have been asked to submit bids by Thursday for the second phase of the project, which entails construction of a 400-foot dike topped by a concrete spillway.

The spillway will be constructed so that any increase in the lake level will go directly over the spillway.

'What comes in goes out. It will be a true run-of-the river facility, with no flood storage,” Colgan said.

Colgan said the new dam will be able to handle flows of 69,000 cubic feet per second, more than double the 30,000 cfs capacity of the dam that failed.

Work on the project's $4.6 million first phase - repairs and upgrades to the flood-damaged concrete portion of the dam - began in April and is proceeding on schedule and under budget, Leonard said.