Page 126 - A Flood of Memories

after tHe flOOd
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Within two months of the ood, the Dayton region’s leaders had raised more than $2 million to pay for the design of a ood protection system and hired engineer Arthur Morgan for the task. Although residents wanted “dirt to y,” Morgan recognized the solution needed to be planned properly, not just built quickly. In only a few months, Morgan and his staff developed, analyzed and selected from eight ood protection system designs. They then spent more than four years meticulously working out construction details. Construction of the ve dry dams and the original 43 miles of levee, plus channel improvements, began in 1918 and was completed by the end of 1922.
While Morgan was designing the ood protection system, the state of Ohio was passing legislation to allow the formation of conservancy districts that could cross jurisdictional lines where necessary. The Miami Conservancy District – with Arthur Morgan as its rst chief engineer – constructed the ood
protection system to serve the Miami Valley.
Today, The Miami Conservancy District system
protects cities that experienced Great Miami River ooding in 1913, including Piqua, Troy, Dayton, West Carrollton, Miamisburg, Franklin, Middletown and Ham- ilton. These cities that experienced ooding on a regular basis prior to the ood protection system’s construction can now prosper, knowing that ood risk has been
diminished signi cantly. The Miami Conservancy District’s ood protection is often lauded for its high design standard. The system continues to withstand extreme weather events and is designed to handle oods up to 40 percent greater than 1913.
From the beginning, The Miami Conservancy District’s core mission has been ood protection, but the organization strives to meet other regional needs as well. Thousands of acres of productive farmland were preserved, and park lands and forests created, when the dams were constructed. The Miami Conservancy District works to protect and preserve the quality and quantity of the aquifer, which provides drinking water
to about 1.6 million people in the region, and to improve the health of our rivers and streams. Always a propo- nent of public recreation, The Miami Conservancy District maintains nearly 35 miles of bikeway in Montgomery and Warren counties and promotes the use of our natural lands and waterways for kayaking, canoeing, shing and more.
1913