The final period for public comments about a plan to control flooding along the Pearl River could be set later this summer.
That would be a step forward for what is commonly known as the One Lake project and officially named the Pearl River Basin, Mississippi Federal Flood Risk Management Project.
Keith Turner, attorney for the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood & Drainage Control District, said the global coronavirus pandemic slowed the planning process, but there were meetings via Zoom about the project with the staff members of the office of the assistant secretary of the U.S. Army.
“Our documents have been undergoing revision and editing and are three or four weeks out from being completed,” he said. “The documents will then be submitted to the assistant secretary of the U.S. Army sometime in the beginning of June.”
The assistant secretary may want to go over the documents about the plan one more time before a 30-day period for public comments is set, he said.
A notice about the public comment period will be published in the Federal Register and on the Environmental Protection Agency website and the Rankin-Hinds flood control district website, rankinhindsflooddistrict.ms.gov.
Flood control is a problem that as recently as February 2020 plagued neighborhoods in northeast Jackson and south Jackson.
“The Flood of 2020 was No. 3 on the lists of floods,” Turner said. “It was that big a flood. People don’t realize how vulnerable Jackson is to flood.”
Turner believes there’s a good chance the flood control project will be built, but it must first be approved and then funded. “This is the best solution for flood control since 1979,” he said, referring to the Easter Flood of 1979.
There have been efforts to control flooding along the Pearl for many years. The Shoccoe Dam project in the 1980s project failed to win approval and so do expanded levee projects.
The current project evolved out of one known as Two Lakes.
One Lake was designed by Northside businessman John McGowan, with plans being drawn up by Mendrop Engineering Resources.
Turner considers the project name, One Lake, a misnomer because it’s not about building a big lake like the Barnett Reservoir, which has about 33,000 acres, but widening the Pearl River.
One Lake includes the creation of a 1,500-acre lake along the Pearl River, from north of Lakeland Drive to south of I-20 near Richland.
To build the lake, a weir near the waterworks curve in Jackson would be removed and a new one added south of I-20. The project would cost approximately $355 million to construct.
That amount includes the funds needed to purchase right-of-way for the work. Some of the property needed is already owned by the Rankin-Hinds district, as well as the state.
The lake is designed to reduce flooding from the Pearl by helping move water downstream in the event of heavy rainfalls.
The project would improve the conveyance of the water and provide additional capacity to store flood water.
“The capacity is minor, but the bigger thing is conveyance,” Turner said. “We cannot harm folks downstream.”
About 85 percent of the project area has been impacted by prior U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects, Turner said, which has resulted in a changed state of the river.
The project would result in thousands of acres of new waterfront property, which could be used for economic development or recreational use.
“There are three areas where we expect land use,” Turner said. “One is natural area for species, the second is recreational areas for parks and pathways, bike paths and the third is some economic opportunity areas that will be available for developers on both sides of the river on Hinds and Rankin counties. It will be up to those communities to develop those.”
There will be areas well suited for mixed use developments that could include a marina, condos, apartments and such, he said. “They’re going to be cool, neat places along the river,” he said.
Opposition to the current project is expected, Turner said, from environmental groups and individuals downstream who are not familiar with the current plan.
Environmental groups have spread incorrect information about the project and its impact, he said. One group told communities downstream even before the plan was completed that the project would dry up the river and then they were told it would cause flooding, he said.
“They scared the heck out of people downstream,” he said.
Flood control authorities offered to meet with environmental groups before starting work 10 years ago, Turner said. “A couple of them showed up and then they wouldn’t participate,” he said.
The plan has been subjected to a grueling review process. Plans initially had to be submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Vicksburg District office for review. After the agency determined it would work hydraulically, the plan was submitted to a second Corps office outside of the area for an independent review.
The Corps must sign off on the project, because it would affect a body of water that is part of the Waters of the U.S.
The review process is spelled out in the 2007 Water Resources Development Act, which authorized $133 million in federal funding to help construct it. Due to inflation, the amount authorized for the project has been increased to around $200 million, Turner said.
One Lake is not without critics. Some environmental groups claim the project would have a negative impact on the Gulf sturgeon, a threatened species, and the threatened species ringed map turtle
Included in the project are mitigation plans that address turtles and fish that live in the river as well as wetlands. Protected areas will be constructed where the turtles can nest and live and a fish ladder that will allow the Gulf sturgeon to migrate is part of the plans.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a report saying the lake would have a minimal impact on those species but recommended several steps to mitigate the losses that would occur.
Funding has not been appropriated for the project.
“There are $200 million in federal funds to pursue,” Turner said. “That may take several years to go. The flood control district has bonding capabilities. We will look to the state of Mississippi to help with funds. The state has over $100 million in properties between downtown and the protected area around the fairgrounds. If we had another flood like in 1979 there would be billions of dollars in damage.”
After funding is secured, the project will require three or four years of construction, and then several more years for developers to produce plans for the economic development component, Turner said.
