Years ago, when the free flowing river I've lived beside for 37 years, was pushed for a large dam project, an alternative was proposed. That was to build thousands of small temporary impoundments to hold water for two to three days, releasing slowly what would normally rush into the river and cause flooding. We have several of these occurring naturally near us. Low cost flood control for a mountainous state, hasn't happened however. We still have damaging flood regularly.
It is unlikely that the civil engineers for a project back then would have even considered improving soil fertility / water holding capacity over large area to reduce runoff coefficients. Back then they did not have LiDAR, GIS, or Rust and multi-threaded processors.
lots of good tools out there - here is a really low cost set of tools that can be used to think about how to use "non-point source" approach to the water quantity pollution problem.
True! But the benefits of more wetlands is all of the co-benefits they provide ecologically -- rearing habitat, bird habitat, carbon storage and sequestration etc. But yes, I hear you. We do some of this here in NZ, particularly in urban zones.
Free flowing water is good for human psyche and spirit in addition to ecosystems. Removing dams and leveraging a river systems natural tendencies with engineering and science that strikes a balance rather than controlling flow is viable, feasible, and working in Pacific Northwest. Klamath River salmon are returning. Elwha dam removal ecosystem significant benefit in short time frame. Washington culvert improvement projects another example people, infrastructure, and ecosystems can coexist.
Flooding is good for everything except for people. Solutions need to make sense for farmers and sheep habitat replacement is really something you need to consider. If the sheep don't live there, where do they go?
Indeed, except that we built on floodplains because it was fertile land. So long-term they're good for humans, just not on our timescales. At the end of the day, it's not that much land that needs to be taken back for rivers in most cases.
It seems like a frustratingly obvious solution. My home was in a 500 year flood plain and it came right up to our door but thankfully not inside. We have a lovely botanic garden and that was when I learned they had designed it to act as a flood plain in the event of a large scale event.
Love this and a subject I'm passionate about too, ever since discovering about the culverting of urban rivers going back to late 1800s and wondering what made people do that. What a loss. More recently a local culverted river that had a car park and market built on top decades ago has been uncovered and given some fresh air again. Its still controlled but its a stepping stone.
Years ago, when the free flowing river I've lived beside for 37 years, was pushed for a large dam project, an alternative was proposed. That was to build thousands of small temporary impoundments to hold water for two to three days, releasing slowly what would normally rush into the river and cause flooding. We have several of these occurring naturally near us. Low cost flood control for a mountainous state, hasn't happened however. We still have damaging flood regularly.
It is unlikely that the civil engineers for a project back then would have even considered improving soil fertility / water holding capacity over large area to reduce runoff coefficients. Back then they did not have LiDAR, GIS, or Rust and multi-threaded processors.
lots of good tools out there - here is a really low cost set of tools that can be used to think about how to use "non-point source" approach to the water quantity pollution problem.
https://www.whiteboxgeo.com/
Thanks for sharing!
Such a shame. Networks of connected wetlands would provide many more co-benefits than just flood mitigation too.
The flood basins do not even need to be "wetlands" - they could be intermittently farmed like a lot of farm fields currently are.
True! But the benefits of more wetlands is all of the co-benefits they provide ecologically -- rearing habitat, bird habitat, carbon storage and sequestration etc. But yes, I hear you. We do some of this here in NZ, particularly in urban zones.
Free flowing water is good for human psyche and spirit in addition to ecosystems. Removing dams and leveraging a river systems natural tendencies with engineering and science that strikes a balance rather than controlling flow is viable, feasible, and working in Pacific Northwest. Klamath River salmon are returning. Elwha dam removal ecosystem significant benefit in short time frame. Washington culvert improvement projects another example people, infrastructure, and ecosystems can coexist.
Absolutely, Kim! Yes, lots of good news re: dam removal restoring river ecosystems. Now to let them have lateral room to move where they need it too.
Flooding is good for everything except for people. Solutions need to make sense for farmers and sheep habitat replacement is really something you need to consider. If the sheep don't live there, where do they go?
Indeed, except that we built on floodplains because it was fertile land. So long-term they're good for humans, just not on our timescales. At the end of the day, it's not that much land that needs to be taken back for rivers in most cases.
That’s goods to here!
It seems like a frustratingly obvious solution. My home was in a 500 year flood plain and it came right up to our door but thankfully not inside. We have a lovely botanic garden and that was when I learned they had designed it to act as a flood plain in the event of a large scale event.
It does doesn't it! But many have ignored it. The planners of the botanic garden sound like my kind of people!
Love this and a subject I'm passionate about too, ever since discovering about the culverting of urban rivers going back to late 1800s and wondering what made people do that. What a loss. More recently a local culverted river that had a car park and market built on top decades ago has been uncovered and given some fresh air again. Its still controlled but its a stepping stone.
It's cool to see urban streams be 'daylighted' like this isn't it!