The floodwall is one of those silent protections that many seem to take for granted.

Although one might occasionally see a pump station, or the artificially raised land that makes up the levee, the system largely operates in the background, keeping Ironton safe from the sort of devastation the city suffered more than 60 years ago.

This year, however, the floodwall has been thrust into the spotlight, as a funding program for the protection has once again been placed on the ballot.

More than a wall

When Mike Pemberton, the city’s street, sanitation and flood superintendent, hears the term floodwall, he's quick to correct the terminology.

"I like to call it 'Ironton's flood protection project,' that's actually what it's called," Pemberton said. "When the Corps of Engineers built it, they considered it to be a flood protection system."

He's right, of course, the system really is more than a wall. The flood system includes 18 floodgate closures, 10 pump stations that remove internal city water after the system is sealed and more than 5 miles of earthen and concrete levees.

At its heart is an intricate series of pump stations along the riverbank at varying elevations. When the river reaches the elevation of the area surrounding the station, the pumps are activated.

Each station contains around four pumps, which collect water gathered inside the pump station, and push the water back to the other side of the levee and ultimately back into the river.

The floodwall system was commissioned after the 1937 flood which devastated the city. The system was completed in 1941 by U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

What may surprise some residents is the unsettling fact that almost all of the system is made up from the same components installed 64 years ago.

Maintaining the wall

That is not to say that the system is not in good shape. One look inside the pristine pump stations reveals that they have been maintained. But it does mean that Pemberton's two-man crew has to spend a lot of time repainting, maintaining and tending to broken pumps.

Much of the floodwall employees' time is spent mowing the grass on the floodwall, an important necessity, says the Corps of Engineers, to maintain the integrity of the floodwall.

Workers also must contend with vandalism which Pemberton says is a huge problem, as he sweeps the remnants of a shattered beer bottle from the doorway of a pump station.

Pemberton opens the back door of one of the station to show a yellow railing.

"See this, this used to be aluminum like we have inside, but we came back one night, and someone had cut them all off, to sell them for scrap, I guess," Pemberton said. "We replaced it with these; these aren't worth anything."

In addition to having his employees maintain the stations and the wall, Pemberton also has men to open and close the floodgates. With electricity required to keep the pumps running, the system equals an expensive proposition.

Price of protection

The last time voters had a chance to fund the floodwall system was in November 2004, when a one-mill, five-year renewal floodwall levy narrowly failed. Only 45 votes kept the measure from passing - 2,530 votes were cast against it, 2,441 votes were cast in favor of the renewal.

It was the first time the fee had been voted down since the 1960s, Pemberton said, the result of a few flood-free years.

"When it was voted down in the '60s, it had been a long time since something catastrophic happened, with the water getting really high," Pemberton said.

When the levy failed in 2004, the last time waters had posed a significant threat was in 1997. But Pemberton believes its failure had more to do with a ballot filled with other funding issues.

"I honestly think that it was because there was the floodwall fee, the payroll tax increase and the reduction in mayor's pay on the ballot, I think that people just went down through there and checked 'no, no, no,'" Pemberton said.

To help pick up the additional cost of keeping floodwall maintenance going, City Council adopted a $3 fee that generates around $150,000 per year, approximately the amount that would have been raised by the levy.

The hidden hero

In its annual report to the City of Ironton, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representatives estimated that the city’s floodwall system has prevented more than $250 million in damages over the years and more than $25 million last year alone by keeping the Ohio River at bay.

Although many residents aren't consistently aware of the flood protection system because they rarely see waters rise, Mayor John Elam said that just means the system is working.

"The pumps go into operation substantially before you'd see any flood gate being erected. If the pumps did not go in to operation, then you would see water from the river backing up through our sewers which could end up flooding the town without the floodwalls being up," Elam said.

"Some people say, 'Well, water never really laps at the base of the floodwall,'" Elam said. "It may even barely cover the Storms Creek Bridge, but even if that's all that was showing we could still flood, if the pumps weren't in operation."

Pemberton agrees, pointing out that if the system had not been in place in 1997, much of North Ironton would have been submerged in floodwaters.

Both men point out that the system may be in the public conscience more now, after the disaster in New Orleans where levee breaks multiplied the amount of damage done by the hurricane several times over.

Everything has a life

The floodwall levy will again be on the ballot this year. It is a 1-mill levy based on property value that would generate approximately the same amount as the current $3 fee.

According to the wording of the levy, the $3 fee would be removed if the levy passes

The levy would cost taxpayers $1 per every $1,000 of a property's tax value, which is 35 percent of appraised value. For example, an owner of a home valued at $100,000 would have a tax value of $35,000, so the owner would pay $35 a year to keep the floodwall going, or $1 less than the $3 per month fee currently costs the same homeowner.

The owner of a home appraised at $50,000 would pay only $17.50 a year.

Although Pemberton admits that the system is not in immediate danger, he feels that his team is pushed to the limit right now, and worries what might happen if the city council (or the public) lost interest in supporting the flood control system.

"These pumps, they were made when things were built to last," Pemberton said, as he circled one of the many glistening pumps. "But everything has a life Š everything has a life."