Iowa Senate puts $350,000 in budget for Lake Delhi study

Iowa Senate appropriators have earmarked $350,000 in their budget for engineering studies needed before restoration of Lake Delhi can begin.

And there may be more help to rebuild the Delaware County lake destroyed when flooding last summer breached a dam that impounds the Maquoketa River to form the lake

“We need to see what size of an elephant we are dealing with,” Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines, said about the proposed appropriation that must get approval of the full House and Senate before the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund budget goes to the governor.

McCoy is optimistic there will be more money to rebuild Lake Delhi where about 800 permanent and vacation homes are located.

Estimates for reconstituting the lake and dam run as high as $20 million depending on whether the Department of Natural Resources determines whether a high-hazard or low-hazard dam is needed.

Sen. Tom Hancock, D-Epworth, thinks the cost is more likely to be in the $10 million range.

“There's no way we'll come up with the full total here at the state level,” Hancock said, “but I'm pretty confident that some kind of partnership will be formed with the Lake Delhi folks. To what level, I'm not sure. We don't have that nailed down yet. But there is a willingness on the part of the Senate to partner up with them.”

Lake Delhi supporters will be in Des Moines again April 26 to make their case. The Lake Delhi Watershed Association will host a picnic at the Capitol to thank lawmakers for supporting Senate File 412 and encourage the House to also approve the bill that increases the number Lake Delhi Taxing District trustees from three to seven and gives the taxing district essentially the same bonding authority as cities, according to Rep. Steve Lukan, R-New Vienna.

Todd Gifford of the coalition said members have been meeting with lawmakers to explain “this public lake has been supported for decades with private funds and that reconstruction and restoration of Lake Delhi is critical to Eastern Iowa.”

The coalition has started a $3.5 million fund drive to gather local support for repairing the lake. Delaware County supervisors are talking about a $1.2 million bond issue for repairs.

That's the sort of commitment legislators need to see, McCoy said.

“Lake property owners need to be a part of this,” said McCoy, chairman of the Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee. A county bond issue also would demonstrate local support, he said.

That's understood, Gifford said.

“We know that the state legislators expect local investment in the rebuilding effort,” he said. The county supervisors have provided financial support through various stages of the cleanup and in-kind assistance by making the county engineer and county attorney available to provide professional services.

The $350,000 engineer's study would include a geotechnical evaluation - soil borings, and hydrological studies, for example, that are needed to determine whether a high-hazard or moderate-hazard dam needs to be built, according to Gifford. Also included would be restoration alternatives and construction specifications.