Could Whitewater Rafting Be Coming to the Iowa River in Iowa City?

Ever wanted to go over the Burlington Street bridge dam while sitting in an inner tube?

Well in a few years, that might actually be something you could do and survive to tell your friends about.

The planning department is looking into converting the low-head dam into an integral part of a whitewater rafting course as an element of the city's work on the .

Steve Long, Community Development Coordinator for the city of Iowa City, said this would be done by stacking rock up to the nine-foot dam in a gradiated, stair-step fashion, allowing water, fish, and even people in inner tubes to flow over the dam safely from the section of river above down to the section of river below.

Charles City has put in a popular white water course of its own using a low-head dam.

Long said in addition to creating a safe route for passage, it would eliminate the potential for drownings due to the roller dam effect, where powerful currents from the dam can suck nearby boats or people in and hold them fast to tragic effect. Long said three people in the past 20 years have died due to this at this dam and this would finally greatly reduce that possibility.

"Our view is this project is going to improve the water quality, riverbank shore stabilization, and certainly the safety," Long said.

"I'm excited about it."

A few happy side benefits of the project: Long said this structure would allow fish to travel upstream along the Iowa River, instead of making them double back as they currently do. It also can generate a white water rafting path that can be used by kayak enthusiasts.

Long said an important element of this project is it would not disrupt the normal operations of the dam.

"They depend on a constant water level upstream for their water plant operations," he said.

Long added that as part of the project, the city would seek to beautify and solidify the river banks.

Jeff Davidson, Iowa City's director of planning and community development, said this whitewater rafting element also has intrigued the university, including its recreation department.

Davidson stressed however that this plan is just an idea that the city is looking into at the moment and nothing has been approved by the city council at this time. He also said it would come after the development of the Riverfront Crossings' Park being developed in the flood plain, which could then provide an access point to the whitewater course.

"There's no point putting the whitewater course in until there's a way you can access it," Davidson said.

Davidson said the course at the moment would hypothetically stretch between the Burlington Street and Benton Street bridges.

But how would the city fund such a project?

Well earlier this month Gov. Terry Branstad signed Senate File 2316 into law, a bill which, among other things, appropriated $1,000,000  to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources for Low Head Dam Safety projects such as the one Iowa City is considering.

Long said the city hopes to apply for funding to have an engineer design this project soon after the funding becomes available on July 1.

Davidson said it will take some applications for grants and further research before the city has a clear idea of how realistic the plan would be, but the cost does seem within a reasonable reach.

"I don't get the impression that it's an expense that would make it undoable," Davidson said.