The Midland Business Alliance (MBA) Advisory Committee on Infrastructure has been working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the County of Midland on a large hydraulic/hydrologic study of the Tittabawassee River Watershed since 2021. This first study is coming to a close soon. Using new river surveying and GIS data, the study will result in a powerful computer model of the watershed.

 This is the largest modeling project undertaken by the USACE-Detroit District. The model will show the current conditions and where flooding would occur under many different rain and ground-saturation conditions. It will help our emergency managers better predict flooding and prepare the community.

 The work from the first study is also important for a second USACE study, called a General Investigation (GI) study. Using the model and data from the first study, the GI study will develop potential actionable projects and determine their feasibility (cost-benefit). For example, the computer model would help the engineers determine where potential floodwater detention is most needed to reduce the impact of flooding and the types of projects that could yield positive results.

 From the start, we have been interested in giving preference – whenever possible – to nature-based solutions, such as wetlands and marshes for their water detention, filtering, and reduction of sediment movement. We believe that some of these solutions are options for the longer-term work with the USACE.

The GI study has many formal steps. To start, the GI study must receive authorization AND appropriations from the U.S. Congress. We’ve almost crossed both of those initial hurdles, thanks to the work of Rep. John Moolenaar, Rep. Dan Kildee, Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Sen. Gary Peters. The GI study was authorized successfully in the last legislative cycle. Our legislators then helped us add the $500,000 appropriation for the study’s first year to President Joe Biden’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget. The appropriation is currently in both versions of the Senate and House budgets. We are waiting on pins and needles for Congress to pass the budget.

The anticipated $500,000 appropriation is USACE’s 50% cost-share for the first year. Each year, the USACE will need an appropriation approved. The GI study is expected to take three years and to cost an estimated $3 million, with the cost split between the federal and local entities. The MBA Advisory Committee on Infrastructure has the local portion of the 50% cost-share ready, thanks to our local business/foundation donors and a State of Michigan grant. After Congress passes the budget, the USACE will present a contract to the three local partners to review and sign: the MBA, the County of Midland and the City of Midland. That will launch the second study – early in 2024, we are hoping.

After a GI study is successfully completed and approved by the USACE leadership (as well as the local community), this would allow the Corps to construct flood control solutions – after another authorization and appropriation process. In a future construction phase, we would be rewarded with a significantly beneficial cost-share of 65% federal and only 35% local.

While all of this has been going on, we have been working locally on potential shorter-term projects that align with the USACE work and our mission to reduce the frequency and severity of flooding and to improve resiliency.

Working with the Spicer Group, we developed a conceptual “Midland Flood Reduction Plan,” which includes a series of floodwalls, berms, flood gates and pump stations to prevent Tittabawassee floodwaters from “backing up” into the Snake Creek, Sturgeon Creek, State Drain and other local drains. (See the document at www.MBAmi.org/FloodStudy.) The floodwalls/berms would be set to 0.3 feet below the 100-year flood elevation, which is similar to the 2017 flood event. An estimated 650 residential and commercial structures would be protected under these conditions. Estimated at $117 million, this is one group of projects that could be pursued in parallel to the studies by the Corps. We are currently conducting an alternatives-analysis to make sure the original concept is still the best plan.

This year, we saw great success in the funding for our local efforts. Thanks especially to the efforts of our Lansing legislators Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet, Rep. Bill G. Schuette and Sen. Roger Hauck, we were awarded two grants from the State of Michigan. The City of Midland will receive $25 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds administered by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). The second grant is a $15 million enhancement from the State for Midland’s projects. We have been working with the City’s team on planning. In addition to this $40 million, we are continuing to solicit additional funding for the Midland Flood Reduction Plan.

Since our committee’s inception in 2021, we raised more than $1.3 million in seed funds from generous local foundations and businesses. With those funds, we paid the local 50% cost-share for the first USACE study. We also provided communication, planning, engineering services, and advocacy for a long list of projects to reduce flooding and build resiliency. A few examples include the funds for moving the MyMichigan Health boiler plant and electrical infrastructure to “higher ground” to eliminate a recurrence of the hospital’s mechanical problems during the 2020 flood; a Midland County flood plain reconnection and enhancement project; and the City of Midland’s Sylvan Pump Station detention basin project.

When we add up the “returns” on this local investment, we are bringing back – to date – $56.4 million to the Midland area. That gives us a current “return on investment” of 43.3 to 1. And we’re not done yet. (See “ROI Sept. 2023” at www.MBAmi.org/FloodStudy.)

In addition to collaborating with our federal, state and local legislators and with agencies like EGLE, FEMA, and the USACE, we have also spent much of 2023 communicating with local organizations, residents and other stakeholders. If your group would like to learn more, our volunteer committee members would be happy to schedule a presentation and Q&A session with you. You can contact us at mbami@MBAmi.org.

Lee Ann Keller is owner and CEO of Omni Tech, a global technical and business consulting company in Midland that specializes in strategic planning, biobased product commercialization, and DEI strategies/training. She and her company have been actively involved in the Midland community for more than 30 years. Lee and her family reside on Sanford Lake.

J.W. Fisher is the president of Fisher Contracting Company, a heavy/highway civil contractor with locations in Michigan and Kentucky and part of Fisher Companies. Since 1925, four generations of the Fisher family have provided civil construction services to federal, state, municipal and private clients throughout the Midwest and Southeast. He and his family reside in Midland.