AUTHORIZATION:  Section 204 of the Flood Control Act of 1965 (Public Law (PL) 89-298) authorized a project to provide flood damage reduction protection from interior flooding that was modified by Section 137 of the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) 1976 (PL 94-587) by authorizing construction of the Blue Waters Ditch segment independently of the other authorized segments. House Report 104-782, Appropriations for Energy and Water Development for FY 1997, provided for a reevaluation of the authorized project. Section 310 of WRDA 2000 (PL 106-541) modified the project authority to include ecosystem restoration as a project purpose. Section 1001(18) of WRDA 2007 (PL 110-114) authorized the ecosystem and recreation project per the Chief’s Report dated December 22, 2004.

Project map

Location and Description:  The project is located in Madison and St. Clair Counties, Illinois, along the east bank of the Mississippi River between river miles 175 and 195 above the mouth of the Ohio River. The project area includes approximately 55,000 acres of flood plain that is protected by a levee system along the Mississippi River, the Chain of Rocks Canal, the Prairie du Pont Canal, and the Cahokia Creek Diversion Channel and an additional 51,000 acres of upland area that drain into these bottomlands. The ecosystem restoration project will restore bottomland forest habitat (1,700 acres); flood plain prairie habitat (1,100 acres); marsh and shrub swamp habitat (840 acres); lake habitat (460 acres); and upland riparian forest (380 acres). It will also restore 10 miles of flood plain stream and 178 miles of tributary streams. Flood risk management is incidental to the restoration project with an estimated $1,445,000 in reduced average annual flood damages. The project would provide both feeding and resting resources for the federally-threatened bald eagle. The project lies within the Mississippi River Flyway and contributes to the life cycle requirements of more than 50 migratory bird species covered by international treaties and the state-threatened Illinois chorus frog. The wetland resources to be restored are considered scarce with over 85 percent of the wetlands in Illinois and other Midwestern states lost since the 1780’s, and the decline is continuing.

Activities in FY 2010 ($249k)
- Continue preconstruction monitoring
- Complete hydraulic modeling for Cahokia Canal watershed
- Continue Elm Slough Engineering Documentation Report (EDR)

Local Sponsor:  Madison and St. Clair Counties