The Quad Cities water-ski team Backwater Gamblers performs free shows every Sunday and Wednesday on the Rock River from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day.
But before they launch their 47th season in Rock Island, the nonprofit organization is concerned about options the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is considering for the Sears and Steel Dams. They include scenarios that would lower upstream water levels by over three feet, which would make the river unusable for boating and end the popular water-ski shows.
“The concern isn’t just the outcome, it’s the process,” Backwater Gamblers president Nick Passini said recently. The DNR study did not evaluate economic or recreational impacts and did not consider common, lower-cost safety alternatives like signage, warning systems, or barriers, he noted.
The Backwater Gamblers have operated on this stretch of the Rock River for over four decades and host weekly shows with 30,000+ spectators annually. “Over that time, we’ve demonstrated that this area can be used safely and consistently under current conditions,” Passini said.
State Sen. Mike Halpin (D-Rock Island) and DNR officials held a presentation in Moline in March on six alternatives on what to do with the dams on the Rock River (including doing nothing), and the top-rated option was full removal of the two dams (at a cost of $11 million), that would lower river levels.
Other options – including removing Sears Dam and modifying the Steel Dam – would range in cost from $11 million to $24 million and a full report is expected to be completed in June.
In a March 18 letter to DNR, Backwater Gamblers wrote that its show site is located approximately 600 yards upstream of the Steel Dam, and the group generates roughly $900,000 in annual economic impact to the surrounding community (including out of town visitors).
The Backwater Gamblers outlined key points in its letter:
● Practical and cost‐effective safety solutions exist that address risk without altering upstream water levels.
● The study does not evaluate non‐structural safety measures or broader community, recreational, and economic impacts.
● Dam removal would lower water levels by approximately three feet at our site, effectively ending our operations and materially impairing recreational use in the area.
● Our organization has safely operated complex water ski activities in close proximity to the dam for decades.
● Dam removal scenarios exceed $10 million in cost while eliminating a recreational waterway that is central to the community.
“Our shows include advanced maneuvers such as four-tier pyramids performed in close proximity to the dam,” the letter said. “These activities have been conducted safely for decades and are only possible because of stable, predictable water levels and well‐understood river conditions.
“Based on the information presented, removal or modification could reduce water levels by approximately three feet at our site. A reduction of this magnitude would render our site unusable and effectively eliminate our ability to operate in this location,” the group said. “Accordingly, the Backwater Gamblers respectfully submit that alternatives which reduce upstream water levels or degrade usable river conditions should not be pursued.”
The DNR analysis focuses on “construction-based solutions and does not evaluate non-structural safety measures such as improved signage, barriers, or public education,” the letter said.
“It also does not consider broader impacts to recreational use, community programming, or economic activity, nor does it address potential impacts to nearby infrastructure within the affected river corridor. Additionally, the study appears constrained to a predefined set of alternatives, limiting meaningful consideration of more balanced or less disruptive approaches.
“In contrast, practical non-structural safety measures, including signage, warning systems, and access control, would be significantly lower cost while directly addressing safety concerns without altering existing river conditions,” Backwater Gamblers said.
The water-ski team represents only a small fraction of the larger long-standing community use of this river, they said. “Any decision that alters conditions in this area should fully account for the demonstrated, safe, and beneficial use that already exists today.”
Click below to see a PDF of the DNR presentation.
Study after river deaths
Sen. Halpin asked for the dam safety study in 2021, following three drowning deaths near the Steel Dam.
In June 2020, 21-year-old Alondra Acosta and 16-year-old Alexander Ravelingeen, both of Kewanee, drowned after they were in a boat that lost power and floated over the Steel Dam between Milan and Rock Island.
In 2018, a 5-year-old girl died when her family’s boat went over the same dam.
“That’s what prompted this study, to make the dams safer, without compromising the use of the river,” Halpin said Wednesday, April 1. His own preference is to leave the dams in place, but make safety modifications, including ramps, steps and better signage.
“Certainly, it’s cheaper to put signage up, the only downside, sometimes you can be doing everything right, staying far away, but if a jet ski or boat motor malfunctions, you’re at the whim of the river,” he said. “It’s certainly the number-one way to prevent these accidents, to be knowledgeable.”
The DNR’s report — expected in June — won’t make specific recommendations, but lay out the options to make the river safer, Halpin said.
Any changes would have to be between DNR and local government agencies, and that part of the river corridor would involve multiple municipalities – not only Milan and Rock Island, but Moline and Coal Valley, he said.
The March 16 presentation said that the alternative to remove both dams would:
- Eliminate all safety hazards
- Restore natural river processes
- Maximize ecological connectivity
- Be most cost-effective short- and long-term
- Result in greatest reduction of recreational pool
Skiing a family tradition
Collin Ridgley of LeClaire is one of three Backwater Gamblers co-directors who’s been on the team for 17 years. His mom Chris skis with the group and Collin first skied when he was 5 years old.
Backwater Gamblers regularly qualifies for the D1 National Water Ski Tournament (through the National Ski Show Association), and last August finished 11th out of 13th teams in Janesville, Wis.
The QC shows from Memorial Day to Labor Day every year (on the river at 44th Street in Rock Island) are free admission, with free parking. They collect donations every show, and have generous sponsors and other supporters.
Main expenses for the team are boats, skis, costumes and insurance, Ridgley said. They also seek grant funding, he noted.
About 20 members of Backwater attended the state public hearing in Moline in mid-March to speak and learn about the plans. They’d like to see things remain the same but improve public awareness, Ridgley said.
“When it comes to safety aspects, education, there was nothing in the works of that aspect of huge signage, metal cables, barriers,” he said. “There's nothing going into helping the public know that hey, there are these huge dams right here. So that's kind of the key aspect. Now like Nick has said, our team has been well-informed over the last 45 years that flotation is an option over NSSA rules. But our team is mandated to wear Coast Guard approved life jackets.”
Ridgley understands why the state would want to remove the dams, since there’s no need for them anymore, regarding providing hydroelectric power.
“I believe that these dams used to help water flow into a hydroelectric dam that is non-functioning as of 2020. So there's no use for these anymore,” he said. “And with the unfortunate accidents and tragedies that have happened near these dams and at these dams, that is why they're proposing we don't need them anymore, so let's remove them.”
“We've been kind of letting our team know that nothing's happening yet,” Ridgley said, noting any decision would not affect the group this year. “They had two years of research, of science and research going into the DNR. We have our letter set up. That was all of our board approved and everything, which is good because our voice matters. We've encouraged our members to submit their own comments and their own letters. And now we have a decision that's being made within months.”
If the Steel Dam is removed, that would force Backwater Gamblers to move elsewhere, possibly out of the area, he said.
“I believe our ski team would maybe look elsewhere. I don't think it would be the end of Backwater, but it would be at the end right there at Ben Williamson Park,” Ridgley said.
“The future is uncertain. Now the wheels are starting to turn at our own board of directors meetings on what to do, how to prepare for it,” he said. “Right now, I mean, nothing is happening. So we kind of just have to treat it as, okay, nothing's happening. Let's just get our voice out there and see what happens.”
For more information, visit the Backwater Gamblers website HERE.
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