(Spirit Lake)– Rising water levels on the Iowa Great Lakes was the topic of an impromptu meeting this (Monday) morning between representatives of the Dickinson county board of supervisors, County Engineer Dan Eckert and several concerned residents on West Lake Okoboji. Recent rains, especially those that have fallen in southwest Minnesota, are causing dramatic rises on the Iowa Great Lakes. Many docks on West Lake Okoboji are nearly submerged, and there’s growing concern over erosion into the lake with wave action as the level has surpassed the rocks along the shoreline.
Supervisor Wayne Northey said this (Mon.) morning the situation is getting very serious and that it’s high-time something be done to improve the flow through the Great Lakes chain–both in the short term and in the long term.
A short term solution discussed today (Mon.) is to remove some vegetative growth near the Lower Gar Outlet at an estimated cost of between 7,500-dollars and 10-thousand. That work could be done in the next few days. County Engineer Dan Eckert was directed to get permission from the various entities that would be involved, including the DNR and U-S Army Corps of Engineers, along with lining up a contractor.
A longer term solution, like putting in an additional culvert or replacing the existing culverts at the Lower Gar Outlet with a bridge, is on the agenda for Tuesday’s Dickinson county board of supervisors meeting. Milford City Administrator Brian Reed again said today (Mon.) the city will NOT be willing to help pay for such a project, especially if there’s any chance at all of the city assuming long-term maintenance and associated costs of a bridge. Reed says it’s his understanding the city of Milford would have no issues as long as the county would be willing to assume all costs and liability.
The cost of putting in a new bridge was estimated several years ago at 300-thousand dollars. That has now grown to between 400-thousand and 600-thousand dollars. The Iowa Department of Transportation has agreed to pay a third of the cost to increase capacity at the Lower Gar Outlet, not to exceed 100-thousand dollars. That offer is good until 2010.
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