If I owned a home in the valley that was damaged by jökulhlaup floods during the last two years, I’d be skeptical about the Hesco barriers being an effective method to protect my property. But doing nothing is even riskier. That’s why it makes sense for work on the short- and long-term solutions to be moving forward concurrently.
And if we don’t get a long-term solution in place before next summer, it’s because no one thought it was a serious problem until after entire neighbors suffered flood damage.
The local nonprofit First Things First has described the crisis as “a recurring, existential, threat to Alaska’s capital city.” If that’s true, and I think it is, then the cost of placing the Hesco barriers shouldn’t fall entirely on the residents in the proposed Local Improvement District, some of whom have already spent up to $100,000 to install bank protection. The rest of us should be willing to help out via relatively small, temporary property tax increases.
First Things First believes floodwaters can be effectively contained by a levee at Mendenhall Lake. They’ve proposed building one section along the shoreline from the West Glacier Trial parking lot to the lake’s natural outfall. On the east side of the river, it would run about three-quarters of the way across the Dredge Lake terrain. In between, a pile-supported reinforced concrete structure would be designed to hold back the floodwaters while allowing unimpeded outflow at normal lake levels. They’ve estimated the cost at $30 million.
In an earlier scheme they promoted, the levee on the east side would have run from “along the existing shoreline of Mendenhall Lake from the visitor center parking lot” all the way to the river.
David Ignell thought a reasonable goal was to start construction of their first concept last month. He still thinks their current one “can be constructed in a matter of months, not years,” adding that it’s “the best practical means to regulate the flow of water into the Mendenhall River.”
I’m not endorsing that plan partly because I’ve seen a similar idea that appears would be significantly less expensive. But before a contract to build anything can be awarded, both concepts require getting the necessary expertise in place to complete the hydrological analysis, investigate the terrain and underlying materials, and design the levee and the outflow structure.
Although I’m skeptical the design and construction of either can be completed before next summer’s flood, it’s not impossible. However, I’m troubled by what seems to be a lack of respect among many for well-established engineering processes. No profession is perfect, but there’s a reason why catastrophic failures in this country are extremely rare.
That’s not a defense of the bureaucratic red tape which often results in agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers being inefficient and ineffective. But they haven’t “dropped the ball over the last 15 years in dealing with the Mendenhall Valley flooding,” as Ignell disingenuously argued in a recent message to city officials.
The facts are no one, including the experts, predicted that the river would rise to the levels we’ve seen the past two years. Homeowners who installed riprap after either flood didn’t think they’d ever need riverbank protection. And this year, everyone was surprised by how many homes were inundated.
And the idea of building a levee along the lake shore didn’t surface until after this year’s flood.
Indeed, for many Juneauites, every flood event was seen a spectacle that was, in the words of writers from the U.S. Geological Survey, “one more thing that makes their community special.” It became common for riverfront residents to watch it all from the comfort of the backyards. Hundreds of others would gather on the Backloop bridge or at the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center area.
So, we should all look in the mirror before complaining that CBJ officials don’t recognize the urgency of the situation.
This crisis was born from a combination of understandable ignorance and complacency by the whole community. The goal now should be to dramatically shorten the bureaucratic processes without short-circuiting the integrity of the engineering work. And accusing CBJ and the Corps of Engineers of dragging their feet serves neither purpose.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
