JUNEAU — Flooding concerns brought a packed crowd to a Dodge County committee meeting Monday, where residents shared concerns about water management.
At the center of the debate is a proposed flood mitigation study, backed by engineers and downstream residents, that would examine how water moves through the Horicon Marsh, Lake Sinissippi, and into the Rock River.
Supporters hoped county funding would help address recurring flooding that they say has damaged the land, citing dead trees and mud banks.
“There’s been more and more flooding in the Rock River in the past several decades,” said Rob Montgomery, a water resource engineer consulting with the Town of Lebanon.
“Thousands of acres get flooded regularly due to increasing floods.”
Montgomery is part of the Rock River Flooding Working Group, which was formed after residents came together to share their concerns. One of those residents told TMJ4 News at our “Let’s Talk Oconomowoc” listening session.
Montgomery said the group asked for support to fund a study that would evaluate storage capacity and control structures across the watershed—specifically looking at options such as adjusting dam gate operations, restoring upstream storage, and analyzing how seasonal changes affect water flow.
“This is a technically complicated issue,” Montgomery said. “But the bigger thing is having everyone at the table to talk about potential solutions.”
Lake Sinissippi residents say they’re being left out of the conversation.
Many of them showed up to the meeting Monday morning holding signs and sharing photos of the shoreline damage they say occurred during a winter test drawdown, or when water levels were lowered on Lake Sinissippi.
That drawdown was part of a previous study by the Rock River group that aimed to evaluate how lowering lake levels might help reduce flooding downstream.
“You’re on a system,” said Tanya Lemke, co-owner of Sinissippi Lake Pub and board member of the Lake Sinissippi Association. “You can’t take one section of the system and not consider it in its entirety.”
Lemke said she supports finding a solution but feels the current process has excluded voices from her community.
“I don’t want property owners in Lebanon to deal with floods, but I also don’t want every property owner on this lake to deal with destruction either,” she said. “There’s property value considerations, ecological considerations, and they all play to each other.”
She urged local and state officials to pay attention to the growing debate.
“If nothing else, perhaps this conflict will raise attention to these issues beyond the local level—to the state level, to the federal level,” Lemke said during the meeting. “Scott Fitzgerald, can you hear us? Scott, this is your hometown. Listen to us, please.”
WATCH: Dodge County neighbors divided over flooding fix for Rock River
After hearing from both sides, the Dodge County committee ultimately voted to deny funding for the study because it would be directed to a privately organized coalition rather than a government entity.
Still, stakeholders on both sides said they’re willing to keep talking.
“Watersheds don’t respect political boundaries,” Montgomery said. “This goes through multiple jurisdictions and government agencies, but the whole system has to work together if we want to get anywhere.”
Lemke echoed that sentiment.
“We need to blaze a trail to work cooperatively to find solutions for the lake, the Rock River, and the flooding,” she said.
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