The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to produce later this summer a report analyzing several options for flood control along the Pearl River, environmental and engineering issues and community concerns.
The report is expected to be completed by August and community meetings for citizens to comment on the report and its conclusions are expected to be held in September, said Keith Turner, an attorney for the Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood & Drainage Control District.
The U.S. Corps of Engineers hosted a public meeting in Jackson in May about flood control, including the plan for the Pearl River known as the One Lake project and officially named the Pearl River Basin, Mississippi Federal Flood Risk Management Project.
The meeting produced the same concerns that have been voiced before.
“The concerns we heard were what we’ve heard in the past from environmental and downstream residents,” Turner said. “The Jackson meeting had many people whose homes had flooded in 2020 or in 2022, crying out and saying, ‘We need help.’”
“These are not wealthy people, and they’re struggling. They want a solution.”
Many supporters of the One Lake project turned out for the meeting.
“We had homeowners, elected officials, business leaders, Dr. (LouAnn) Woodward from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, the interim president of Jackson State University, representatives from Hinds Community College and several ministers,” he said. “It was a good turn out.
The flood control plan for the Pearl River has been in the works for almost 10 years, which is typical for a project of its magnitude.
“If you look around the country at large projects like this it can take a decade to get through something like this,” Turner said. “This is not unusual.”
A decision about whether the project moves ahead should be made in just a few months.
The assistant secretary of the U.S. Army has said he is committed to making a
decision about the project by January 2024, he said.
Turner, who has been heavily involved in the flood control project for the last decade, said he is “very optimistic” that design work on a flood control project for the Pearl River will be under way next year.
Flood control is a problem that has plagued neighborhoods in northeast Jackson and south Jackson.
“The Flood of 2020 was No. 3 on the lists of floods,” he said. “It was that big a flood. People don’t realize how vulnerable Jackson is to flood.”
There have been efforts to control flooding along the Pearl for many years. The Shoccoe Dam project in the 1980s failed to win approval and so did 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.
Environmental groups and individuals downstream who are unfamiliar with the current plan have expressed concern.
Environmental groups have spread incorrect information about the project and its impact, Turner 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 caused 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 many 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 $221 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.
Additional funding will most likely be needed, depending upon the plan.
“Depending on the final project, we’re estimating $340 million as the cost,” he said.
The flood control district has bonding capabilities and that could be a source of funds, Turner said.
“We will look to the state of Mississippi to help with funds,” he said. “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.
