AWWA ACE94292

The spring and summer of 1993 brought unusually high levels of rainfall to the upper midwest drainage basins of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. This rainfall resulted in record stages on these two rivers as well as their tributaries and reservoirs, creating large areas of flooding, threatening water supply and treatment facilities built near on in the flood plains. Throughout this dramatic event, there were numerous failures of water supply and wastewater systems, of various magnitudes, which perhaps could have been prevented or mitigated during design. The purpose of this paper is to revisit some of the problem areas and to suggest potential measures which could be taken in future designs to lessen or eliminate the impact of major floods for drinking water facilities.