UPDATED: December 2012
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: Rep. Hinchey (NY-22).
APPROPRIATION / PHASE: General Investigations / Feasibility
BUSINESS PROGRAM: Flood Damage Reduction & Ecosystem Restoration
AUTHORITY: U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Resolution No. 2495, Upper Delaware River Watershed, NY adopted May 9, 1996.
LOCATION: The study area is located in Sullivan County, New York. It encompasses the Willowemoc Creek watershed (upstream of Covered Bridge Road); including the Little Beaver Kill Creek and Cattail Brook.
DESCRIPTION: Initial impetus for the study was the January 1996 storm event which caused over $15 million in damages in Delaware County, NY. Consecutive major floods in September 2004, April 2005 and June 2006, again caused devastation along the main stem Delaware River and its tributaries, repeatedly damaging property and disrupting tens of thousands of lives.
STATUS: The Feasibility Cost Share Agreement was executed on May 26, 2009. Non-federal funding was received in September 2009 which initiated a phase one feasibility study to investigate flood risk management and ecosystem restoration for the Little Beaver Kill and Willowemoc Creek in the Town of Rockland (Livingston Manor). Tasks completed to date include completion of a cultural resource investigation; review of NYSDOT proposed plan for I-86 to determine impacts to flooding; completion of USFWS Planning Aid Report; NEPA Scoping and Agency Coordination; ground surveys for verification of flood damage elevation accuracy and cross sectional stream profiles; improved accuracy of FEMA flood mapping for the study area for use in modeling; extrapolation of historic gage data and interpolation onto discontinued gages within the project area; rainfall runoff modeling; economic modeling based on structural inventory collected for the Upper Delaware Multi-jurisdictional study; completion of five flood simulation models to determine flood damage estimates during various storm frequencies and interaction of hydrology during storm events; analysis of existing levee system; calculation of expected annual damages; analyzed list of alternatives that were identified through coordination with Rockland Township and NYSDEC; modeling of 30 combinations of viable alternatives to determine resulting surface water changes and flow reductions; calculation of expected annual damage reduction for top three combinations of alternatives; completed existing conditions section, technical and executive summaries of the Phase One Feasibility Report.
Alternatives that are being recommended as a result of the hydraulic and hydrologic analysis include widening of the main street bridge; expansion of the Willowemoc Creek floodplain and relocation of existing high school ball field levee; flood plain restoration and construction of a flood retention structure within the gravel pit area/abandoned airstrip site. Ecosystem restoration recommendations include the realignment of the Little Beaverkill Creek upstream of the Main Street Bridge, including riparian enhancement incorporated into the restored floodplain with wetland creation within the proposed flood water attenuation area. Habitat enhancement measures will also be recommended in flood plain expansion areas downstream and the Main Street Bridge and the abandoned poultry processing plant site.
FY13 tasks will include coordination of selected alternatives based on modeling results with local sponsor for concurrence; any modifications to modeling or additional alternative analysis as identified by sponsor; conceptual designs and costs of selected plan; description of restoration components and measures to be added to plan; completion of phase one feasibility report.
|
FINANCIAL
DATA ($000)
|
Fed
|
Non-Fed
|
Total
|
|
BUDGET
DATA ($000)
|
Comments
|
|
Feasibility (Livingston Manor)
|
583
|
583
|
1,166
|
|
FY08
|
250
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FY09
|
46
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FY10
|
190
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FY11
|
100
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FY12
|
200
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FY 13
|
TBD
|
|
SPONSOR: The NYSDEC is the sponsor of the Livingston Manor Study. Combinations of all or some of the following are also contributing to the Livingston Manor study: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, Trout Unlimited, Open Space Institute, Sullivan County, Rockland Township, Liberty Township, USGS, NOAA - National Weather Service, and others.
PROJECT MANAGER: Mark Eberle, (215) 656-6562, mark.d.eberle@usace.army.mil