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Warrenville celebrates flood-relief projects

Municipal and county officials are celebrating the completion of a series of projects to alleviate flooding in Warrenville.

Representatives from the county, forest preserve and city participated Tuesday in a ribbon-cutting ceremony near the recently reconstructed Warrenville Road bridge.

Replacing the bridge that crosses the West Branch of the DuPage River was among a list of flood control and water quality projects that were done in response to Warrenville experiencing severe flooding in September 2008.

"For problems like flooding, there's no one smoking gun," Warrenville Mayor David Brummel said. "There's a number of things you can do. We cooperated with the county and the forest preserve district to do quite a few things that have provided the flood mitigation we've needed for decades."

Jim Zay, chairman of the DuPage County Board's stormwater committee, said the first step was to build a berm to hold the river away from Bower Elementary School in Warrenville. That project was completed in 2012.

Other projects followed, including wetland restoration in McDowell Grove Forest Preserve near Naperville and stream bank restoration along a roughly three-mile stretch of the river.

A recreational path also was built along the west side of the river.

The county then purchased and demolished a commercial building that previously stood where the Warrenville Road bridge crosses the DuPage River.

Zay said the building was sticking out into the river and impeding the flow of water. Razing the structure also cleared the way for two other projects.

As part of a joint effort between the county's transportation division and stormwater management department, crews last year reconstructed the bridge.

The bridge had to be replaced because it was nearing the end of its useful life, said Don Puchalski, chairman of the county board's transportation committee.

But the bridge was widened to improve the flow of river water.

As a result, Puchalski said, "We were able to work with our the stormwater department on a project that had multiple benefits for the local community."

Another project restored the natural flow of the river at the bridge, which will prevent river water from backing up at that location.

Brummel said residents already have noticed the river doesn't rise as high during heavy rains and drops quicker. "It's better than it's been in forever," he said.

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