Dike construction along the Kettle River in Grand Forks near Rockwool is essentially done and has come in under budget.
Flood Mitigation Project Manager Ben Stevens told council this month the surplus is close to half a million dollars but only a portion will be available.
“We’ve come in under budget by about $466,000. The 266 (thousand dollars) we suspect is going to be actually available for us but it’s restricted to things related (to) risk reduction and improvements related to the downstream industrial dike,” Stevens said.
Stevens says one option could be adding pumping capacity to gravity outfalls for the dike.
“That funding is kind of restricted to this area of work and potential upgrades to drainage through that dike and so we need to work with our funders to see if they’ll allow that scope alteration. Unfortunately that money can’t be utilized for other projects,” he said.
As of the end of October, roughly $66 million has been spent on protecting the city from future floods – $47.3 million in capital projects, $17.5 million on property plus another $1.2 million in city contributions.
The downstream industrial dike has been providing flood protection for about eight weeks now.
Some paving still needs to be done in the spring and the city is working with Rockwool to relocate its sign that was taken down during construction.
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