Environment

City of Rock Island Drains Augustana Slough

WVIK, Quad Cities NPR | By Molly Sweeney

Published November 6, 2023 at 1:13 PM CST

Plans for the new drain line in the Augustana Slough. The pink lines show the plan for the new drain line, while the blue lines show the old drain line.

Six years after a pipe burst and flooded Augustana College, the City of Rock Island and the college have teamed up to prevent future flooding. Next week, a city crew will start the work by draining the slough.

Bob Lanzerotti, Augustana Director of Facilities & Sustainability Services, says a new drain line will be installed to make maintenance easier.

"Today, to even to look at that line, they have to get a little boat and they have to go out to the manhole in the center of the Slough. And then they have to pop the lid and they climb in that way. So in this new project, what they're doing is they're going to eliminate that manhole and they're going to build a new one closer to the edge of the concrete path."

Lanzerotti says the college has taken steps to protect what's in the water.

"The professors have gone in there, they've taken out anything and everything they wanted to take out, as far as the wildlife. And then from our side, on facilities side, the fountains, theres two fountains, those have been removed, and then we have oxygenators under the water as well, and those have already been removed as well from us."

During the project, the Augustana slough and path will remain open, except for a temporary closure during the winter break. The construction is expected to be completed in early January.