Rebuttal: Reduced federal funding has not deterred ‘efforts to maintain and invest in our dams’

Reduced federal investment in infrastructure is a long-term problem for the nation, but it has not deterred MCD’s efforts to maintain and invest in our dams. We have invested more than $20 million in infrastructure in the last 20 years, completing multiple capital projects to enhance the safety and stability of our dams. Now, we are working to rehabilitate/replace the concrete at the dams. Construction is under way at Lockington Dam in Shelby County as reported by Chris Stewart in last week’s Dayton Daily News and Hamilton Journal News.

While most of the Lockington Dam concrete is sound, we must repair and replace deteriorated sections before they affect the dam’s integrity. There’s still a lot to do. We will need to analyze the concrete at the other four dams—Germantown, Englewood, Taylorsville and Huffman—and design and implement repairs for each.

Our nation’s infrastructure needs funding as do the MCD dams. The dams may need more reinvestment than should be absorbed by the people who currently fund them. The maintenance of and reinvestment to the MCD system of dams and levees is locally funded, paid for by the property owners, cities, and counties who directly benefit from the system. Funding should be a shared responsibility at the federal, state, and local levels.

Currently, there are few state and federal funding opportunities for locally owned dams. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, however, recently awarded MCD $850,000 to analyze structural stability and to design necessary concrete repairs at three of MCD’s dams. And more is needed.

MCD’s dams are part of a system that protects 47,000 properties in five counties; multiple hospitals; nearly 60 schools and colleges; hundreds of miles of public roads; and 1 million people who live, work, and visit communities along the Great Miami River.

Thanks to on-going maintenance, regular inspections, and reinvestment, our dams have successfully protected this region from river flooding for 100 years. We are working to ensure they protect the region for the next 100 years.

Janet Bly is the general manager of The Miami Conservancy District. She is past president of the National Association of Flood & Stormwater Management Agencies.