Water wall

COEUR d'ALENE - No, the city isn't preparing for a government shutdown, and yes, while there has been considerable rainfall, there is no imminent threat of flooding.

So why is there a 7-foot wall being resurrected along the north shore of Lake Coeur d'Alene?

The city of Coeur d'Alene is trying to get its flood control system re-certified with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

After Hurricane Katrina destroyed the levee protecting New Orleans in 2005, FEMA charged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with re-certifying all of the nation's levees.

The flood control system in Coeur d'Alene is really a three-part system comprised of a seawall that stretches from First Street and Lakeside Avenue to the earthen levee that lies beneath Rosenberry Drive. The levee is the second part of the system, which connects to a sheet pile wall that protects the shoreline at the point where the DeArmond Mill used to stand and stretches all the way to Harbor Center.

In all, the system provides 1.5 miles of protection for the Fort Grounds neighborhood in case of catastrophic flooding.

It has happened before.

According to the city records, there was a 100-year flood event that hit Coeur d'Alene in 1933. That flood surged the level of Lake Coeur d'Alene up to 2,139.3 feet above sea level. That is 11.3 feet over the lake's normal summer pool level of 2,128.

The flood protection system will protect the neighborhood up to 2,144 feet.

The wall was built in 1940, after Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1938 which appropriated $308,000 to build three flood control systems in Coeur d'Alene, Spokane and St. Maries.

Since then, the wall has only been erected once, in 1959, but it has been in storage ever since. Until August, the Corps had the responsibility to certify the system, but the agency no longer does certifications.

Kim Harrington, assistant project manager with the city, said cities now have to hire third-party engineering firms to certify the systems.

Ruen Yeager & Associates has the contract to do that for Coeur d'Alene. Because the Corps managed the system since it was built, they never had to erect the wall for certification purposes.

Now that a third party is doing the certification, Harrington said they wanted to see the wall go up in the allotted time it was designed to be erected.

When it was built it was designed to be erected in five days, but 23 city workers from the street, parks, wastewater, and water departments were able to construct it in one day.

"We had planned to take about 10 to 12 hours," said Street Superintendent Tim Martin.

In less than five hours, they had two-thirds of the wall reconstructed.

"I'm thinking we'll finish today in one eight-hour shift," Martin said.

Gus Foulk, with Ruen Yeager & Associates, was on hand Monday to document the setup, and an engineer will be present today to certify the wall's integrity.

"There are a couple of spots on the wall that we will have to take a look at," Martin said. "But they are minor issues like getting holes lined up and stuff like that."

If residents want to see the wall, Martin said they should check it out today because after the engineer signs off on the project, the city will begin to take it down.

"It should all be back in storage by Friday afternoon," Martin said.

The wall was erected all the way up to Northwest Boulevard. While the original wall crossed Northwest Boulevard and ended at First Street and Lakeside Avenue, the city is considering turning the seawall north to run in front of the North Idaho Museum and end it near the city parking lot to the north of the museum.

Martin said the parking lot is at the elevation they need to reach in order to end the wall.

Once the wall is certified, Harrington said the engineers will shift their focus to the earthen levee that forms the base of Rosenberry Drive.

Two years ago, the Army Corps of Engineers ordered all of the trees along the levee to be removed, saying the root systems compromised the integrity of the structure.

The Kootenai Environmental Alliance sued the Corps to stop the removal of the trees, but they have since suspended that suit because the Corps relinquished its certification duties to the city.

Harrington said a vegetation study along the levee should determine how the city will proceed with any tree removal.

"You have to realize - if you drive the road and look at it - that some of those trees will have to go," she said. "And also the slope of the levee will have to be fixed due to erosion."

After that is completed, the engineers will be looking at the sheet pile wall section of the system. The goal is to put together a list of projects the city will need to do in order to ensure the flood control system is sound.

The engineers will work with the city to submit a "Condition Letter of Map Revision" by January, Harrington said.

"The letter is a way for us to say if we do this, this and this, will you accept that?" she said.

If the city does not earn re-certification, property owners in the Fort Grounds neighborhood could be forced by their mortgage companies to purchase flood insurance.