| East Dubuque Local Area History Project | |
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N.S. 5/4/00
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| The present floodwalls standing cover about 1,100 acres of mainly manufacturing and commercial areas and some residential in the city of Dubuque. The total length of the levees is 25,506. The maximum height is 30 feet and the width is 10-12 feet. Where possible, levees are made of hydraulic sand fill and a 10 foot covering. Fill material comes from the bottom of the Mississippi for sand levees. The riverward side of all sand levees is covered by a blanket of clay. The clay blanket is topped by an eighteen inch layer of riprap and the landside of the levee is overlaid by six inches of granular surfacing material. | |
| The floodwalls that are protecting Dubuque are I walls and T walls. The I walls are 1800 feet in length and a maximum height of 9 feet. The T walls are 3500 feet and have a maximum height of 14 feet. | |
| There are four pumping stations. The first pumping station is in Dubuque Harbor. It has two pumps that each pump 8000 gallons per minute. The second pumping station is at Bee Branch. It has two pumps that each pump 90,000 gallons per minute. The third pumping station is at Maus Park. It has three pumps that each pump 17000 gallons per minute. The fourth pumping station is at Hawthorne Street. It has three pumps that each pump 20000 gallons per minute. The total cost of the flood protection in Dubuque was 11,947,000 dollars. | |
| The project of the flood system was designed by the state of Illinois, the Department of Transportation, and the Division of Natural Resources in 1969. The East Dubuque levee system was an upgrade of an older levee system from 1936. It runs from the Julien Dubuque Bridge to its end at the railroad invent. The levees are constructed of granular material and compacted earth. They are topped with a layer of stone riprap or have a layer of topped soil and are seeded. | |
| East Dubuque has two pumping stations. One is near Menominee Street and the other is near DeSota Street. The Menominee Street pumping station handles storm sewer flows when the outlets are closed. The DeSota Street pumping station pumps storm water from the drainage channel and the DeSota Street storm sewer. The pumping stations are constructed of steel reinforced concrete and are on top of creosoted wooden piling. The pumps are electrically operated and are activated when the water in the station reaches a special elevation. | |
| Floodwalls, levees, and pumps help protect our communities when the river is high. | |
