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Florence Flood Retarding Structure

Rehabilitation Fact Sheet

Project Name: Florence Flood Retarding Structure (FRS)

Sponsors:

  1. Florence Area Watershed Flood Control District
  2. Florence-Coolidge Natural Resource Conservation District

Project Location: Central Pinal County, Arizona

Authorization: Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act, Public Law 83-566, as amended, and Public Law 106-472, Small Watershed Rehabilitation Amendments of 2000.

Project Summary:

The Florence Flood Retarding Structure (FRS) was originally constructed by the Soil Conservation Service (now the Natural Resources Conservation Service–NRCS) in 1965. It is currently operated and maintained by the Florence Area Watershed Flood Control District. The five-mile-long, 20-foot-high earthen structure provides flood protection to the Town of Florence, Arizona, including 17,000 residents, Arizona State Prisons facilities, the Central Arizona Project Canal, the Florence-Casa Grande Canal, streets and highways, residential and commercial properties, and 5,000 acres of Prime Farmland.

The FRS has known inadequacies in storage and auxiliary spillway capacity and integrity. To address these issues, the Project Sponsors, with assistance from the NRCS, completed a Supplemental Watershed Plan and Environmental Assessment (Plan/EA) in 2007. The Plan/EA calls for rehabilitation of the Florence FRS to provide for continued flood protection while meeting current safety and performance standards, including: raising the dam crest; and widening and reinforcing the auxiliary spillway.

The Dam Rehabilitation Program administered by NRCS provides financial and technical assistance to help local Sponsors rehabilitate aging dams that were originally constructed with NRCS Watershed Program assistance. NRCS, Sponsors, and the Arizona Dam Safety Office are currently working on nine high priority dams needing rehabilitation. In order to receive federal funds for dam rehabilitation, local Sponsors must provide 35 percent of the total project costs.



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