Flooding

Flooding
With the 2008 record rainfall and snow melt, severe flooding occurred throughout Dane County. There simply wasn’t enough storage capacity in the surrounding watershed to absorb all the moisture that fell in a short period of time. To help alleviate future flooding, there are a number of things that the county has done including:

- Upgrade the Babcock Dam that regulates the water coming out of Lake Waubesa
- Approve funding to continue with a cooperative effort between multiple parties to replacement of the trestle bridge between Upper Mud Lake and Lake Waubesa with a wider span bridge that would coupled the railroad tracks with a bike trail connecting Lake Farm Park with McFarland. Recent UW studies indicate that water movement out of Lake Monona is significantly constricted by this narrow bridge
- Approve purchase of sensitive lands to limit development in areas where the land can serve as a natural sponge to absorb rainfall and snowmelt before it reaches the surface waters.
- Approve funding for continued weed harvesting to keep water flowing efficiently out of Lake Monona