State Sen. Dan Sparks and other members of the Senate Bonding Committee visited the Albert Lea City Center Thursday morning to consider local bonding requests having to do with storm water retention and flood mitigation.

City Manager Victoria Simonsen referred to storm water retention and control as the No. 1 priority of local government during a brief power point presentation she presented with Watershed Administrator Cathy Rofshus and County Engineer Sue Miller.

Local government hopes to receive bonding money for several projects, including creating a system of pools, wetlands and reservoirs to hold back and filter rain water, creating a floodable green space on Main Street near the Moose Lodge, to reduce flooding on the street and nearby buildings and restabilizing Katherine Island and replacing the bridge.

&8220;Storm water is a top problem in the watershed,&8221; said Rofshus, &8220;and that’s why the top priority is a system of reservoirs, ponds and wetlands to slow down and filter water.&8221;

The city of Albert Lea has experienced six floods or flash floods since 1993, according to Rofshus, five of them since 2001. This is due to a number of factors, including the city’s expansion.

&8220;As the city grows, we have more storm water,&8221; said Rofshus. &8220;As we pave over more land, more rainwater is running into the lake instead of being absorbed into the land. We have too much coming in and we can’t get it out fast enough.&8221;

The city used bonding money received last year to purchase buildings on the flood plain on Main Street, including the Union Center, the Moose Lodge, Poole Electric and Collins Auto Repair at their pre-flood value. This year, they are requesting matching funds to establish the green space.

Local money will be supplied with funds brought in by the local option half-cent sales tax, if it passes Nov. 8, or by the watershed district’s property tax levy if the sales tax does not pass.

The Shell Rock River Watershed District has already identified several locations for storm water retention ponds and wetlands, including six sites along the Pickerel Lake Subwatershed which Rofshus said was the district’s first priority.

The SRRWD’s second priority for storm water retention ponds is the Lake Chapeau lakeshed, followed by the Fountain Lake lakeshed and Albert Lea lakeshed.

In addition to reducing bounces in the county’s lakes, Rofshus said, storm water retention pools will help reduce pollution in the lakes by filtering sediment out of water before it reaches them.

Rofshus said a common misconception is that the watershed district’s plans cannot be effective because they don’t know all the sources of pollution.

&8220;We do know where the pollution comes from,&8221; she said. &8220;It’s in the sediment that’s washing into the lake.&8221;

Before the Clean Water Act was passed, Rofshus said, major sources of pollution, such as meat packing plants filtering directly into a lake, were easy to identify. Since those major sources have been remedied, most pollution stems from hundreds of different minor sources such as broken septic systems on farms polluting soil which runs into ditches and storm sewers before emptying into lakes.

Albert Lea has 2,020 storm sewers emptying into five lakes. On average, the storm sewers drain 2.5 billion gallons of runoff to local lakes every year, according to Public Works Director Steven Jahnke. That runoff carries petroleum products, pesticides, fertilizers and fecal coliform bacteria into area lakes.

&8220;In the first five years of the sales tax, people will see a big difference in (the occurrence of) minor floods, in water quality and in the cost of maintaining ditches in rural areas,&8221; said Rofshus.

&8220;We will still never be able to prepare for a 14 inch flood like we experienced last year.&8221;

During her presentation to the bonding committee, Simonsen stressed the importance of the Katherine Island restabilization project, for which the city is requesting $300,000. She pointed the island out to senators from the window of the council chambers and referred to it as the centerpiece of the city.

Floods, including the major one in 2004, have steadily damaged island’s foundation and the supports of the bridge connecting it to the mainland.

(Contact Joseph Marks at joseph.marks@albertleatribune.com or at 379-3435.)

Submitted photo

Heavy rains flooded Albert Lea’s downtown in 2004. Main Street often floods after just a few inches of rain, due to too much water coming from upstream and insufficient drainage capacity downstream.