By EDWARD HUSAR

Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Officials with the Lima Lake Drainage District have still not determined when they will open up the south end of the district's levee to release trapped water.

Commissioners hope to do it as soon as possible, but they must wait for the river to recede below technical flood stage, which may take about a week.

"We definitely want to get the water out as soon as possible," said Tom Leeper, a commissioner with the district. "But the river has to go down farther than it has at the moment."

The river stage at Canton, Mo. -- in the general vicinity of the Lima Lake Drainage District -- was at about 18 feet this morning. That's a drop of more than a foot from Wednesday, but it's still 4 feet above technical flood stage.

The National Weather Service is projecting Canton's river level will fall to the 14-foot level on July 9, barring any major rain.

Leeper said the district is working closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to decide when would be the best time to open up the south end of the levee to release some of the trapped water covering 30,000 acres in both the Lima Lake and the Hunt drainage districts.

Lima Lake and Hunt are two separate drainage districts, but they both lie within one interconnected levee. The Lima Lake levee failed June 18 near Meyer, causing water to rush into the opening and engulf both districts.

"The corps is making some effort to get us some additional information" on optimum river levels for opening the Lima Lake levee somewhere in the vicinity of Bear Creek, Leeper said. He said a meeting will be held late next week to discuss the situation. Some decisions may be made at that time.

"We would like to do it as soon as it is helpful," Leeper said. "But when we are in a position to do it depends on the amount of equipment that it takes and what equipment it takes and how we get the equipment to the proper location."

Opening a levee is not a simple task, especially so soon after the flood caused the sand levee to become saturated, Leeper said.

"It's extremely dangerous to be on that levee right now because that entire Bear Creek levee has been excavated by raising it three feet with trackhoes, and it is not an easy matter to get to where it needs to be cut. We may need a barge."

Mike Klingner, president of Klingner and Associates in Quincy, is the engineer for both drainage districts. He said Lima Lake commissioners are evaluating a proposal to install a gravity drain at the location where the levee will be opened. A gravity drain would allow accumulated water to drain naturally in the event of future flooding.

Some drainage districts in the region already have gravity drains and some, such as Lima Lake, do not.

"It works good to have a gravity drain in certain times of the year rather than pump" floodwater and seepage back over the levee, Klingner said.

"With the high costs of diesel fuel, what might not have been cost effective in 1993 may very well be cost effective now."

Leeper confirmed that Lima Lake commissioners are discussing the possibility of installing a gravity drain, but added: "All these options have 100 ramifications."

Leeper said a major concern now facing the Lima Lake district is the ability to pump out water.

"We've got a pump house that's under water as we speak. It suffered major damage," he said.

Leeper said the district will likely seek assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rehabilitate or replace some of the pumps that are now under water.

He said district officials are now itemizing all the work that went into the flood fight as a preliminary step to seeking reimbursement from FEMA.

Klingner said another big issue for Lima Lake and Hunt officials is to discuss is the possibility of consolidating to become one drainage district.

"They're two separate drainage districts inside one levee district," Klingner said. He said the flood of 2008 "might be the stimulus" to consider joining forces to help better coordinate future flood protection efforts.

He noted that three drainage districts north of Burlington, Iowa, recently joined forces with one executive director overseeing all of them in a more coordinated manner.

"We're seeing some interest in getting some of the districts more consolidated and working together from a management standpoint," Klingner said.

-- ehusar@whig.com/221-3378