The water level at the Manawa Dam on July 12, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
MANAWA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s now been 2 years since the Manawa Dam eroded causing flooding in the City of Manawa. Now the city is working alongside the DNR to restore the Mill Pond to its former glory.
“Right now we are in the testing stages,” said Jim Roentz, member of the joint dam committee. “The engineers are performing the H&H studies along with soil borings and things that they need to find out.”
Roentz says assessments are being done to lay the groundwork for design and engineering proposals.
They’re also needed to start securing state and federal funding for the project which is projected to cost over $8 million.
“The state especially, and the feds for that matter, they want to see exactly what it is that you’re doing, how much it’s going to cost before they can commit to anything, and that’s understandable,” Roentz explained.
When the dam broke July 5th, 2024, it drained the Mill Pond and caused severe flooding downstream of the Wolf River.
It’s not the only flooding that Manawa has seen in recent years.
Just across the street from the dam at the wastewater treatment plant, you can still see remnants of the efforts put in to prevent flooding in April. Zac Van Asten with Waupaca County Emergency Management said that it’s applied for FEMA funds to prevent this from happening again.
“We look at the wide picture, and anywhere that needs it that we’re definitely going to put focus on,” Van Asten said. “Obviously, this is one of them, just because it’s so fresh with everything that happened. It’s a big thing, the waste water treatment plant is very crucial to the city and we need to make sure we do what we can to protect it and help them.”
The FEMA funds for flood mitigation are separate from money going towards the dam.
While Emergency Management doesn’t know how much money will be provided to prevent flooding, Van Asten is sure it will be crucial to keeping Manawa above water.
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