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Weeks Wash flood mitigation: city highlights $44.5M FEMA grant, $90–100M cost estimate and 1,100‑acre‑feet capacity
Summary
City engineers reported the Weeks Wash flood mitigation project has $44.5 million in FEMA Flood Mitigation Assistance funds; total construction costs are estimated at $90–100 million, with the proposed structure detaining about 1,100 acre‑feet and the city purchasing roughly 76 acres for the project.
City engineer Emil Schmidt updated the Apache Junction City Council on April 21 on the Weeks Wash flood mitigation project, which officials describe as the city's largest flood protection effort.
Schmidt said the city was awarded $44.5 million in FEMA Flood Mitigation Assistance funding in August 2023 but that current construction estimates range from $90 million to $100 million. "We are aware of the funding gap between the grant amount of $44.5 million to the current construction cost estimate of $90 to $100 million," he said.
The planned structure would be roughly 30 feet tall with about 70 acres of storm runoff surface area upstream and would detain roughly 1,100 acre‑feet of water (about 358.5 million gallons), Schmidt said. The city purchased about 76 acres previously owned by the Arizona State Land Department to accommodate project components and is negotiating long‑term use agreements with federal partners for additional areas that cannot be purchased outright.
Schmidt outlined necessary next steps: FEMA must complete its environmental and historic preservation (EHP) review before soils borings and final design can begin. He said the EHP review is nearly complete and that, once finished, staff will accelerate final design and consider procurement approaches such as a construction manager at‑risk to meet the aggressive FMA schedule (roughly two years plus a one‑year extension).
The project team is engaging multiple stakeholders and agencies, including the Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Land Management, Salt River Project, Arizona Department of Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and county flood control districts. Schmidt said the city will pursue additional regional partners and value‑engineering measures during final design to close the funding gap.
