The water level at the Manawa Dam on July 12, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
MANAWA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s been more than four months since heavy rainfall caused the embankment next to the Manawa Dam to erode, resulting in heavy flash flooding.
Now, officials are beginning the process of putting together a plan to prevent such damage from happening in the future.
According to a statement released Monday, in late October, Manawa Mayor Mike Frazier and a collection of city leaders met with State Senator Rachael Cabral-Guevara and State Representative Kevin Peterson to discuss replacement of the dam and possible funding opportunities available through the state.
Manawa’s city engineer has reviewed the dam’s overall condition and determined it to be “severely deteriorated and not structurally sound for long-term operation.” As a result, the city says it would rather replace the dam in its entirely, as opposed to making repairs “that would only provide temporary solutions.”
Manawa’s Common Council will review an analysis considering the feasibility of replacing the hydroelectric dam with a new dam or spillway and select their preferred alternative.
By the end of March 2025, the city will then submit an estimate for total project costs — including demolition of the existing dam and construction of a new alternative — to the State Joint Finance Committee, in an attempt to have costs allocated in the state’s next budget cycle.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are the regulatory bodies of the dam and waterway. They have said that prior to construction on the dam, the city of Manawa must stabilize eroded streambanks adjacent to the dam and immediately downstream to reduce impacts on water quality caused by erosion.
Resulting from collaboration between Cedar Corporation and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the City is being awarded grant funding through the Emergency Watershed Protection Program that will cover up to 75% of the streambank stabilization construction costs that are estimated to be $560,000. Design on the project will begin in 2024 with construction anticipated to take place in winter or spring of 2025.
The Manawa Common Council has been communicating with residents and officials of the Town of Little Wolf to discuss potential joint efforts to restore the Manawa Mill Pond, where a number of Little Wolf citizens reside. The City of Manawa says it will continue to update the public when new information regarding the project is available.
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