$300,000 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Flood Resilience project launched in the Village of Owego

Intense rain storms this summer have often turned sections of the Village into temporary ponds, with cars kicking up walls of water as they slowly navigate through flooded streets. Our stormwater system isn’t designed to handle such storms.

On July 31, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) initiated a planning-level study that includes stormwater and floodproofing analyses with the Village of Owego. The stormwater analysis will address stormwater flooding issues within the village.

The study includes stormwater mapping, modeling, and developing plans for flood risk management measures the village could take to mitigate this flooding. The floodproofing analysis will evaluate elevation, acquisition, dry floodproofing, and wet floodproofing for 15 representative village buildings. The buildings chosen include a mixture of residential, commercial, and historic structures located across the village.

The Planning Assistance to States (PAS) program funds the $307,000 project. PAS projects are typically a 50/50 cost share between the non-federal sponsor and the USACE. This means the Village and the federal government would each pay $153,500 to fund this project.

However, this study is 100% federally funded due to the Village’s status as a federally declared economically disadvantaged community. The Section 8119 Amendment of the Water Resources Development Act of 2022 waives the PAS program match for economically disadvantaged communities. The Village of Owego is the first municipality in the country to receive 100% PAS project funding under this 2022 amendment.

Rebuilding our antiquated stormwater system is an expensive, long-term endeavor that will need to be undertaken in project phases. As part of this study, the USACE also budgeted project management and grant writing services to help the village develop and submit for implementation grants.

The village needs to take advantage of its New York State and federally- designated economically disadvantaged status by prioritizing the preparation of large grants to improve its infrastructure while federal and state climate adaptation / resilience matching programs are available. Once this planning-level study is complete, the Village will be responsible for implementation and construction, or requesting future studies and funding based on the recommendations that will be made in the final reports.

Ed Benish, USACE team lead for this project, stated, “The USACE Baltimore District is looking forward to developing a plan to create a flood resilient and efficient stormwater system, in addition to developing floodproofing options for residential and commercial properties.”