Lake Delhi association determined to rebuild dam, restore lake

Help will be needed, but come heck or high water, Jim Willey says Lake Delhi will be back.

“We love our little community, we love our lake, and we will find a way to bring Lake Delhi back,” the president of the Lake Delhi Recreation Association said Tuesday (July 27).

The lake is a puddle of its former self after unprecedented water levels overtopped the privately owned and operated Lake Delhi dam Saturday, washing away the earthen portion and draining the 9-mile lake on the Maquoketa River. The concrete dam remains intact, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, but about 200 feet of an earth-over-concrete dam was washed away.

“It had stood the test of time,” Willey said about the 88-year-old dam that had been built to generate hydroelectricity, “but it had never encountered anything like what happened last weekend.”

About half of the 1,000 homes around the lake that snakes through Delaware County southeast of Manchester were damaged by the flood that followed more than 15 inches of rain across the Maquoketa River watershed. The river reached 23.92 feet, which was more than 2 feet above the previous high water mark.

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Despite Willey's determination, questions remain about the association's ability to raise the funds needed to rebuild the dam, according to Jack Klaus, the public information officer for the Delaware County Emergency Management Team.

Everyone is committed to rebuilding the levee, “but then they add ‘If you can find the money' in a lower tone of voice,” he said.

Willey and the association will begin the money chase when they meet with Gov. Chet Culver at 10 a.m. today (July 28) at the association building near the dam. Culver also will tour area farms that sustained flood damage.

“Of course, we will help ourselves, too,” Willey said, but rebuilding the dam is “well beyond our means.”

Association members – about 80 percent of the 900 property owners on the lake – pay an additional property tax of $4 per $1,000 assessed valuation to support the operation of the dam. The dam maintains roughly equal water levels above and below it making the lake a popular destination for recreational boating, fishing and swimming.

The association, which has owned the dam since 1973, is carrying more than $1 million in debt – money it borrowed mostly for dredging to remove silt that has made the lake shallow and, Willey noted, reduced the lake's capacity to deal with heavy rainfall and runoff.

“We have no money to go forward,” he said.

However, Willey has no thoughts of turning the dam over to the county or state. Instead, the association wants to go forward with plans for turbines to generate electricity.

It's also apparent, he said, that when the dam is rebuilt, a fourth flood gate is needed. The association may look at adding an emergency spillway, too.

Adding to the urgency of rebuilding the dam is the fact Delaware County Road X31 sat atop the dam. The washout has destroyed a “vital link” for residents of the southern half of the county, Supervisor Shirley Helmrichs said.

To get the federal assistance ball rolling, Culver has asked FEMA for additional Preliminary Damage Assessments by teams made up of representatives from federal, state and local government. The teams review damage to determine eligibility for public assistance and individual assistance programs.

Data from the assessments may allow Culver to request additional counties be given a Presidential Disaster Declaration. So far, he's asked that 35 counties receive the designation.

Photos by Julie Koehn/The Gazette

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