Flood Control

Drainage Basin Master Plan

The Drainage Basin Master Plan considers the drainage across the entire watershed. When one change is made, it can effect, for better or worse, the drainage elsewhere in the watershed. The Drainage Basin Master Plan helps to ensure that efforts to solve stormwater flooding problems are cost-effective and mitigate flooding as intended without creating new flooding problems elsewhere.

In 2001, HDR Engineering, Inc. (HDR) completed a Drainage Basin Master Plan (DBMP) for the Bee Branch Watershed and the North Fork Catfish Creek Watershed. The DBMP identified and recommended various projects to address flash flooding and the recurring flooding and property damage that has resulted in multiple Presidential Disater Declarations starting in 1999. The City Council adopted the DBMP in December of 2001. 

Drainage Basin Master Plan, HDR 2001
Drainage Basin Master Plan, Figures 3-1 thru 3-17, HDR 2001
Drainage Basin Master Plan, Figures 4-1 thru 4-13, HDR 2001
Drainage Basin Master Plan, Figures 4-14 thru 4-26, HDR 2001
Drainage Basin Master Plan, Opinion of Probable Construction Costs, HDR 2001

2013 Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment
Since 2001, the City has implemented many of the improvements outlined in the Drainage Basin Master Plan. But since 2001 several intense, storm events have occurred in the Dubuque metropolitan area so that revisiting the predicted hydrology and hydraulic behavior of the drainage basins is appropriate. Based on the expected rainfall totals understood in 2001, there have been three 100-year storms, two 50-year storms, one 25-year storm, and one 10-year storm in the past twelve years. Finally, it is important to consider how additional flood mitigation efforts undertaken by the City since 2001 fit with the overall effort to mitigate flooding. Therefore, updating/amending the Drainage Basin Master Plan was appropriate. 

Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment, HDR 2013
Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment, Figures 1-1A thru 2-7A, HDR 2013
Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment, Figures 4-1A thru 4-4A, HDR 2013
Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment, Figures 4-5A thru 4-8A, HDR 2013
Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment, Appendix B, HDR 2013
Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment, Appendix C, HDR 2013
Drainage Basin Master Plan Amendment, Appendix D, HDR 2013

Bee Branch Watershed Flood Mitigation Project

The Bee Branch Watershed Flood Mitigation Project is a multi-phased, fiscally responsible investment to mitigate flooding, improve water quality, stimulate investment, and enhance quality of life within the Bee Branch Watershed. Over 50% of Dubuque residents either live or work in the watershed which encompasses historic neighborhoods offering some of the community's most affordable workforce housing. It is hit hardest by flash flooding during significant rain events with more than "just a little water in the basement." The project consists of several infrastructure improvements that will reduce the volume stormwater, slow the rate of stormwater, and increase safe conveyance of stormwater through the flood-prone area.