When will the Columbia Canal, breached during a flood 6 years ago, get fixed?

The breach in the Columbia Canal is a reminder.

A reminder of those dark days in October 2015 when unrelenting, once-in-a-lifetime rain triggered a flood in the capital city, destroying homes and property, claiming lives, and pushing the city’s infrastructure to the brink.

And among the fallout was a nearly 60-foot wide breach in the western wall of the Columbia Canal, which is the main source of drinking water for downtown Columbia, including the University of South Carolina, Fort Jackson, and multiple hospitals. Officials hustled shortly after the flood to build a rock dam in the canal to hold in the water, and it remains in place today.

Nearly six years after the flood, the breach in the canal remains unrepaired. But plans to rehabilitate it are underway, and city officials cautiously say that construction could begin about a year from now. In all, nearly $50 million worth of repair work is already planned for the canal, and the city is seeking federal assistance for an additional $45 million to establish a secondary water source north of the canal along the Broad River.

The city is set to receive about $42 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to repair and rehabilitate the embankment of the canal. It also is getting about $8 million in federal grant funds to replace the head gates at the northern end of the canal, near the top of Riverfront Park. The head gates control the flow of water into the canal from the Broad River.

At the moment, the city is looking into the environmental aspects of the coming work.

“We are actually advancing our environmental assessment for the (project),” Assistant City Manager Clint Shealy told The State. “The environmental assessment is looking at all the pieces we are doing in conjunction with FEMA. These are just requirements for projects you have to do with federal dollars.”

The city will hold a virtual meeting at 6 p.m. on July 29 to receive public comment on the project, specifically as it relates to historic preservation. The Columbia Canal, which was initially constructed in the 1890s, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Shealy said there will be a project overview at that meeting.

At-large Columbia City Councilman Howard Duvall said he wishes the Columbia Canal repair could happen faster, but understands the red tape that comes when tens of millions in federal dollars are involved.

“We are now following federal regulations as to how the project unfolds,” Duvall told The State. “It’s much slower than we would like, but if they are paying for it we’ve got to follow their regulations.”

Meanwhile, the city also continues to angle toward constructing a facility along the Broad River that would serve as a secondary water source, and could be used should another major issue happen with the canal in the future. Columbia has applied for a federal Building Resilient Infrastructure for Communities grant that would pick up most of the $45 million price tag for that project. Shealy said the city “is hearing good things” that it is in the running for those grant dollars.

The assistant city manager said the secondary water source project is a priority for him and city staff.

“That’s our number one priority,” Shealy said. “We can build the canal back, and build back that section a lot better. And we can replace the head gates and that will give us better control. And we’ll be in a better position than we were in October of 2015. But we are still talking about an embankment built in the 1800s. ... We will feel a lot better when we have the (secondary water source). We will rest a lot easier.

“We know what happened in October 2015. It is our responsibility to make sure we are in a much better position.”

Duvall said getting funding for the secondary water source along the Broad is important to the city council, as well.

“It is a high priority for me,” the at-large councilman said. “I think that would add to the resilience of the Columbia water system, to add that secondary source in the Broad River, instead of being reliant on the canal area as the only place we are getting water for the downtown area. It’s imperative that we get that other intake put into the Broad River.”