CALUMET CITY | Calumet City officials are still looking for $8 million to upgrade the city's earthen levee to a concrete dike.

That's the estimated cost to install a concrete levee from the state line to just east of River Oaks Center, Calumet City engineer Ron Wiedeman said.

But first it's a matter of getting funding, Calumet City Communications Director Eric Schneider said. The mayor and city officials have been in touch with legislators, such as Illinois Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, and aides to Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., and then Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

Jackson plans to seek funding for the project, said Rick Bryant, Jackson's spokesman.

"We looked for emergency money this year but were unable to find any available funds that applied," he said. "However, we will seek an appropriation in fiscal year 2010 ... for the Cal City levee."

The Calumet City Finance Committee plans to review whether the city should have Robinson Engineering prepare plans for a new concrete dike. The cost of preparing the plans could be as much as $464,000, according to a Calumet City Council agenda.

The dike, if built, would be similar to the ones in Lansing and Hammond, Wiedeman said. Maintaining an earthen levy is expensive and more difficult, he said.

"The earthen (berm) needs to be maintained on a yearly basis, cutting back existing vegetation to make sure the grass doesn't die and the dike doesn't erode away," Wiedeman said. "It needs to be inspected for burrows that get in the dike from animals."

Lansing's concrete levy made a difference in people's backyards during flooding Sept. 13 and 14, Schneider said.

"Lansing looks untouched and you look at Calumet City and carp are swimming in the backyard," he said. "The project is long overdue and now there's some support to get funding, and we are definitely moving in that direction."

Another issue is that individual state laws set the maximum heights allowed for dikes, and Indiana allows municipalities to build dikes that are three feet higher than the maximum height in Illinois, Wiedeman said. If the levy is higher in Hammond, Calumet City would have to sandbag to that height to keep the water from overflowing during a flood, he said.

"It's a decision between two states," he said. "There should be agreement of what the elevation should be at the state line. Something needs to be looked at at that political level."

It was a somewhat close call with the last flood in September, Wiedeman said.

"On the Illinois side, I'd be concerned," Wiedeman said. "The water at the last flood got up to an elevation between 597 and 598 (feet), and the top of our berm is at 598. If we had a couple more days of flooding or raining, it would have driven higher than 598. But as the mayor mentioned, the public works and Fire Department and everybody did a great job getting sandbags out there and protecting the city."

Jeff Newman, a member of the Calumet City flood plain committee, lives on the 1600 block of Shirley Drive, across the street from the Little Calumet River. City officials and volunteers were out in force when the last flood hit, he said. He hopes funding will come.

"We had water 3 feet up into our front yard," he said, adding that they were told to evacuate but didn't.

With a family of groundhogs in a field near the dike, tunnels weakening the dike is a concern, Newman said.

"One of the problems we had was seeping through the bottom of the dike," he said.