Money from the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA) granted to Iowa State will be used to help the Department of Residence take full advantage of the construction site surrounding Maple Hall.

A ring dike system will be constructed around the parameters of the Maple-Willow-Larch residence hall complex to protect it from floods similar to those which occurred during the summer of 1993, said Rebecca Adair, university risk manager.

“That facility is located very close to a flood plain and with pending changes to the flood plain levels, it is in a position that potentially could flood,” she said.

Adair said she and representatives from the residence department will meet Tuesday with the Iowa Emergency Management Division and the Department of Public Defense to go over an agreement for funding and action plans.

“They’re going to be anxious to get part of that going since they’re already in construction phase,” Adair said.

FEMA will provide almost $740,000 for the project, 75 percent of the total cost, which is more than $980,000.

Adair said the residence department will pay about $245,000, the remaining 25 percent of the costs.

If FEMA had not granted money to ISU, Adair said funds would have been found elsewhere.

“This project was going to be integrated one way or another,” she said. “It was conceptually part of the [Maple Hall] project all along.”

Gary Schwartz, associate director of operations for residence, said the department applied for the FEMA funds more than a year ago.

“We’re very happy that we got the money,” he said. “It took a long time.”

Schwartz said Snyder and Associates Inc. of Ankeny is working on the dike’s design, but a builder has not been contracted yet.

“We can’t really contract it out until we’re awarded money, and we were just awarded money last week,” he said.

Adair said she has seen an architect’s drawing of the dike system. It will consist of a combination of earthen berm and concrete walls, with flood gates, pumping stations and storm sewer systems.

“It’ll vary in heights around the residence hall complex but be integrated into the landscaping and design,” she said.

Similar flood prevention measures already have been constructed around Hilton Coliseum and Stuart Smith Park, she said.

“That kind of thing is done in a way you don’t even notice it,” she said. “It’s not going to look like we have the Wall of China circling Maple-Willow-Larch.”

She said FEMA encourages natural disaster prevention projects such as this one.

“It’s all part of a larger work plan for the university and the city and the county in terms of trying to limit the effect of flooding,” she said.

Flood prevention has become important in central Iowa due to the floods in 1993, Adair said.

“After the Flood of ’93, there were resources made available for mitigation projects that would look at ways we could try to change existing problem areas, so that if we had this kind of flood again, we would be prepared,” she said.

With all the renovations already happening at the Maple-Willow-Larch complex, Adair said it was an ideal time to add the dike as well.

Schwartz said adding the dike will protect the university’s investment in Maple Hall.

“Maple-Willow-Larch has been subjected to floods in the past, and if we are going to remodel a building like Maple Hall, we obviously want to protect it from future floods,” he said.

Adair said there are presently no plans for similar flood-prevention projects on other university properties.