ST. PAUL, Minn. – The headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, selected the St. Paul District as the 2011 Outstanding Planning Achievement Award recipient July 17 for completing the Fargo, N.D., / Moorhead, Minn., Metropolitan Area Flood Risk Management Feasibility Study.
While similar studies can take several years to complete, the team completed this study in less than 36 months.
“I take great pride in the team for earning this great award,” said Col. Michael Price, St. Paul District commander. “They performed exceptional work on developing and executing the accelerated schedule to complete the final feasibility report and environmental impact statement.”
During the study, the team encountered several challenges, to include three major flood events. The 2009 flood event in the Fargo, N.D., / Moorhead, Minn., was the highest recorded flood event in history.
The proposed project involves the construction of a 36-mile long diversion channel located in North Dakota that would direct floodwater around the Fargo-Moorhead metropolitan area. The project would temporarily store up to 200,000 acre-feet of flood water immediately upstream of the diversion channel inlet in order to minimize downstream impacts.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, serves the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood risk reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. It contributes around $181 million to the five-state district economy. The 700 employees work at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.
-30-
Release no. 12-085