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Seepage berms being installed along levee at Eppley Airfield

By Katie Knapp Schubert

Omaha, NE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says seepage berms will shore up three areas of Omaha's levee.

The Corps awarded a $1.4 million dollar contract Friday for construction of the berms along the levee bordering Eppley Airfield. The berms are designed to protect the levee by allowing excess water pressure to be released.

Teresa Reinig, a Corps of Engineers project manager, says the berms shouldn't cause concern about the stability of the levee. "The levee is stable and it is holding up, it's functioning as designed and serving its purpose. It is a measure that is flood risk reduction feature in that, and so it is to bolster up the levee."

Reinig says the Corps, city of Omaha, and National Guard decided the additional protection was needed based on daily surveillance of the levee.

Work is underway on the first, and largest, seepage berm. It's scheduled for completion by Saturday. Once it's complete, workers will install the other two berms. The entire project will be done by July 16th.

The Missouri River remains six-and-a-half feet above flood stage at Omaha.