Menomonee River Flood Management

The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) implements regional flood management projects in the Milwaukee area and has a goal of having no residential structures in the floodplain. The MMSD Menomonee River Watercourse Management Plan includes a series of large infrastructure projects to reduce the flood risk on over 300 structures, including a dam and flood storage basin, 12,200 feet of levee and floodwall in the Hart Park and Western Milwaukee Levee System, 800 feet of hybrid levee and floodwall in the Valley Park Levee, and naturalization of 4,000 feet of concrete lined channel to facilitate fish passage from Lake Michigan. The flood management system has been built over 20+ years with the last gap in the levee and floodwall system, the Western Milwaukee Phase 2B levee and floodwall project, currently under construction.

The Phase 2B project includes approximately 3,000 feet of levee up to 8 feet high and floodwall up to 20 feet high, along with 6,600 feet of storm sewers up to 72-inch diameter storm sewer. Attendees will learn how the flood management projects work as a system, benefits of concrete lined channel rehabilitation for fish passage, approaches taken during the Phase 2B project design project to work collaboratively to solve project challenges including implementing work on land with soil contamination, obtaining approvals to build a floodwall adjacent to an active railway, restoring areas to provide improved park features, navigating FEMA Conditional Letter of Map Revision (CLOMR) process, and outreach to residents and businesses for design input and staying informed during construction.