Protecting city water

Luverne City Council members took action at their June 14 meeting to accept a grant of $37,062 that will help fund a project to prevent drinking water contamination.
Storm damage to the Rock River in recent years has created a potential water path toward an abandoned city dump.
Doug Bos of the Rock County Land Management Office alerted county and city officials of the situation two years ago and asked for support in averting a disaster.
He said severe flooding in June 2014 forced the Rock River to overshoot its banks and create a new course for the river’s current through Warren Baker’s land on the east edge of Luverne.
“That area was hit hard, and it blew out the bank,” Bos told City Council members at their Sept. 23, 2014, meeting.
“If not repaired, the next flood could send water right through the landfill into the city and county well fields.”
He said the landfill was operated in the 1930s and closed in the 1950s at a time when there was little concern about environmental impact of garbage.
“We have some nasty stuff in there,” Bos said.
Tests have confirmed the landfill contains hazardous materials, such as metals, mercury, lead, arsenic, pesticides and other contaminants.
“It’s all contained now, but the river is cutting across the field directly to the landfill,” Bos said. “But if we have a repeat of this year’s spring flooding, we will have a big problem.”
Baker has bermed the sand and silt deposited by flooding to temporarily divert water, but engineers and DNR staff have proposed a more permanent solution.
It involves shoring up the banks of the river with a series of J-hooks (made up of 3- to 4-foot rocks) to redirect water flow toward the center of the river.
The plan also calls for willow tree root balls and other vegetation to keep stream-bank soil in place.
Bos said this practice has been applied to 25 eroding stream banks in Rock County over the past 18 years with successful outcomes.
Cost estimates were originally at $250,000, but Bos said last week that engineers, after studying the area more closely, are opting not to send the river back to its original course.
Instead, they're putting efforts and resources into "armoring" the riverbank on its current course to prevent further erosion.
Bos said landfill was well sealed and capped, and that its east side barrier was reinforced to prevent leakage. "It's done an excellent job," Bos said.
At one time, state and local officials considered moving the landfill contents at a cost of nearly $2 million, most of which would be the responsibility of the city.
With the new project plans, the $37,000 federal grant from the Natural Resource Conservation Service will cover a good share of the project.
The rest of the costs will be covered by state flood relief funds, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and some in-kind work from the city of Luverne and Rock County.
Work will begin later this summer — after Aug. 15 — to protect the spawning period of the endangered minnow, the Topeka shiner.