Editorial: Government cooperation valuable weapon to fight flooding

There was a time when heavy rains and rising waters on the Des Plaines River would send Gurnee village and school officials scurrying to fill sandbags.

It seemed beleaguered Gurnee Grade School, a stone's throw from the river, was always in the path of surging floodwater.

Built in 1954, long before flood plains were mapped in the area, Gurnee Grade School was an emergency waiting to happen. When it did, the drill was the same: sandbag, relocate students and staff, make repairs at a cost of about $300,000 per incident.

But heavy rain no longer poses a threat to the site, thanks to local, state and federal government cooperation and funding that paved the way for the school building to be demolished a few years ago and now replaced with park land.

The solution included a $2.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency grant awarded in 2011.

Gurnee Elementary District 56 voters voted in 2010 to approve $28.5 million in borrowing to fund construction of new administrative offices and Prairie Trail School in Wadsworth.

There are plenty of times when units of government don't work well together, but this flood control project and others like it are examples of how valuable cooperation is when it succeeds.

The first phase of a two-year $38 million renovation and flood control project at Heritage Park in Wheeling, and the $30 million Levee 37 project along the Des Plaines River in Prospect Heights are other high-profile examples.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Mount Prospect and Prospect Heights were involved in funding the Levee 37 work.

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago paid the lion's share of the Heritage Park tab.

While there are other examples of similar projects along the Des Plaines River, flooding remains a concern in many areas.

There's a need to continue efforts to strengthen flood control and remove structures built in flood-prone locations throughout the region.

Gurnee village officials have been trying to do just that. They've been active for many years in working with the federal government to purchase and demolish buildings in areas that flood frequently.

Gurnee Grade School's last flood in 2007 sparked the effort for the much-needed permanent fix on the site. About 200 spectators were on hand last week to cut the ribbon on the improvements that extended Viking Park. In doing so, they exorcised some demons by removing one more structure from a flood plain.

Governments working together to fund basins to hold millions of gallons of water, and pipes and pumps that regulate the flow of floodwater probably doesn't sound like sexy stuff unless you've sandbagged during a rainstorm to protect a school.