Flood Control on the Upper Mississippi

1
Flood Control on the Upper Mississippi

• Where do we go from here?

2
The Need

• The Flood of 1993 devastated this region of the
  country
• 15 billion in damages
• Lost wages and earnings
• Loss of life
• Damage to 72,000 homes

3
The Need

• 302 billion in assets in the Upper Mississippi
  River Valley today, only 4 percent of which are
  insured
• It is a question of when, not if, we will
  experience another great flood
• Recent experience in New Orleans indicates that
  we are little more prepared today than we were in
  1993

4
The Comprehensive Plan

• Largely at UMIMRAs urging, the Corps of
  Engineers has finally completed a draft Upper
  Mississippi River Comprehensive Plan
• This study shows that system-wide flood
  protection is achievable
• 12 options have been outlined, 3 of which meet
  the objective of systemic flood control

5
Comprehensive Plan Options

• Plan B
• 500-year protection for urban and agricultural
  areas
• 500-year ring levees with no new development for
  unprotected towns
• Some Levee and Drainage Districts could not
  improve in order to eliminate impact on the lower
  Mississippi River

6
Comprehensive Plan Options

• Plan H
• 500-year protection for urban and agricultural
  areas
• 500-year ring levees with no new development for
  unprotected towns
• Government to purchase land in areas where levee
  improvement costs exceeded land values

7
Comprehensive Plan Options

• Plan G
• 500-year protection for urban and agricultural
  areas
• 500-year ring levees with no new development for
  unprotected towns
• Offers the greatest level of protection to the
  largest number of districts
• Impacts on the MRT (or lower Mississippi)
  allowed additional agricultural districts
  included in the plan that would otherwise be
  excluded

8
Plan G Overview North
9
Plan G Overview South
10
The Benefits of Flood Protection

• Every 1 spent on comprehensive flood control at
  the 500-year level would generate nearly 5
  dollars in increased farm income, damages
  avoided, enhanced economic development and the
  spending that would result from increased wealth
• Enhanced flood control will create jobs and
  increase income in this region of the country,
  but these are investments that industry will not
  make until flood protection is provided
• Land values would increase based on enhanced
  flood protection

11
The Benefits of Flood Protection

• Permanent employment could increase by as many as
  25,000 employees in the Mississippi and Illinois
  floodplains
• Farm land would become more productive with
  increased flood protection

12
The Challenge

• The Corps of Engineers internal procedures for
  calculating cost vs. benefits does not include
  all the long term benefits, nor does it consider
  regional economic benefits
• None of the alternatives meet the national
  benefit cost ratio (greater than 1.0) that the
  Corps has historically employed as a deciding
  factor for its projects
• Any of the above alternatives will require
  congressional action for federal participation
  and funding

13
Opportunity for Support

• We are seeking support from the Illinois, Iowa
  and Missouri communities and organizations in the
  following ways
• By officially adopting a support position for
  Plan G
• By generating support for this effort among your
  members and residents
• By helping us generate attendance and support at
  public meetings that will be scheduled by the
  Corps in Summer 2006

14
Opportunity for Support

• By urging congressional support for both
  authorization and appropriations to implement
  Plan G
• In short, we invite you to work with UMIMRA to
  champion this effort in your community or state