Water board considers plan to relieve flooding
By Daniel Arens
Flooding is an issue around Mercer County. Both the Mercer County Commission and the Mercer County Water Board addressed some of these flood concerns in their meetings this past week. At the water board meeting held in Lange Donovan & Kaffer on Thursday, April 16, a primary concern was flooding at the Lake Shores Estates and its potential solutions. Greg Ficek and Scott Kudrna, representatives from the Lake Shores Estates, were present at the meeting, as was Apex Engineering Group engineer Stephen Hoetzer.
The Lake Shores Estates has a large cottonwood pond region on its north side, between it and Lake Sakakawea. Over time Lake Shores developed and spread to the edge of the pond. During the 1980s and 1990s lake property had been approved when water levels were low. Because of the encroachment on the water, the pond shrunk, and grew too deep for the cottonwoods that grew there, and they died. After the cottonwoods died, they no longer drank the water, which in the previous six years has risen due to the floods.
The Mercer County Water Board has been considering different potential solutions to the problem of this flooding. Ficek and Kudrna spoke at the meeting about the views of Lake Shores, while Hoetzer came to discuss his company’s plans and models for possible projects. Apex Engineering Group is the primary engineering group whom the water board works with in its projects.
“What we’re trying to do is set up a system that will automatically start draining this thing down,” Greg Lange, the secretary of the board, explained.
