DAVENPORT, Iowa - Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba and the Assistant 
Secretary of the Army (Civil Works) Mr. John Paul Woodley, Jr., will 
sign the Davenport flood risk management Project Partnering 
Agreement on Nov. 17 at 1 p.m. at the Iowa American Water Company 
treatment facility in Davenport, Iowa.  They will be joined by the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Brigadier General Michael Walsh, 
commander, Mississippi Valley Division and Colonel Robert Sinkler, 
commander, Rock Island District; Congressman Bruce Braley's District 
Director, Mr. Pete DeKock; and Mr. Brock Earnhardt, president of 
Iowa American Water.  The signing ceremony is not open to the public.

The signing of the Project Partnering Agreement is the next step 
prior to the start of construction, scheduled for early 2009.  The 
original Davenport flood damage reduction project was authorized by 
Congress for construction on 31 December 1970 to reduce flooding 
along Davenports riverfront from Centennial Bridge to just north of 
the Iowa American Water treatment plant.  Due to the relatively high 
cost of the project and the public's desire to maintain connectivity 
with the Mississippi River, the project did not advance.

Record flood events along the Mississippi River at Davenport in 1993 
were nearly matched in 2001, causing extensive flood damages.  The 
baseball stadium, a residential area and significant reaches of the 
downtown area were flooded.  The water treatment plant was 
threatened by flooding, but remained in service during the floods 
due to emergency flood-fighting actions.

Due to the record flood events, the City of Davenport requested a 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reconnaissance study and appropriation 
of federal funds to investigate whether there would be a federal 
interest in a flood damage reduction project for the city.  A 
Limited Reevaluation Study and Report (LRR) were initiated in 
September 2001.  The LRR, approved in June 2002, determined that a 
federal project was justified for Reach 1.  No other improvements 
met federal benefit-to-cost criteria to be justified.  
Preconstruction, engineering and design work has been ongoing for 
the project.

The $9 million project will protect Reach 1, including the water 
treatment plant, from the 200-yr flood event along the Mississippi 
River and would provide protection equivalent to adjacent 
communities levels of protection, including Bettendorf, Iowa, and 
Rock Island and East Moline, Illinois.  The plant is considered to 
be a critical infrastructure element in that it provides drinking 
water to approximately 150,000 customers in Davenport, Bettendorf 
and Le Claire, Iowa.

Major components of the Davenport project include 2,160 feet of 
floodwall (both L-wall and I-wall types), a 200-foot portion of 
earth embankment, road and railroad closure structures, interior 
drainage structures and an operation and maintenance access road.

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EDITOR'S NOTE: For more information about the project and ceremony, 
please contact Ron Fournier at the Corps of Engineers at 309-794-
5274 or by e-mail at Ronald.F.Fournier@usace.army.mil or Mike 
Zukowski at 309-794-5890 or by e-mail at 
Michael.P.Zukowski@usace.army.mil