Monday, 25 October 1999
U.S. to let nature run its flood program
By Jennifer Maddox
Scripps Howard News Service
WASHINGTON - Congress passed a law this year that will redefine the flood control mission of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, with a new preference for Mother Nature over concrete.
Flood-prone communities across the country welcome the new approach. They are eager to see a more environmentally friendly, less levee- and dam-reliant agency.
The Flood Mitigation and Riverine Restoration Program, simply stated, is flood control by getting out of the way. The Corps will have $200 million over six years to test the theory in a series of communities. If all goes well, it will ask Congress to provide a permanent funding stream for the program, nicknamed ``Challenge 21.''
Under Challenge 21, the Corps will pay 65 percent of the cost of buying properties in flood plains, rip down the structures, relocate property owners and restore the ecosystem. Communities that choose to participate will pay the remaining 35 percent of the costs.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency operates a similar program in areas where a federal disaster has been declared.
In six years, FEMA has spent more than $533 million buying and tearing down 21,753 structures to return thousands of acres back to green space and to move residents out of harm's way.
Unlike FEMA, the Corps program does not require a disaster declaration. It's preventive in nature.
``I think (Challenge 21) can show communities that there's a really viable alternative to developing in the flood plain,'' said Michael Davis, deputy assistant secretary of the Army for civil works. ``We view Challenge 21 as a demonstration of that.''
More than 100 towns and cities already have expressed interest in the plan, which became law in August. Corps officials will spend the next year planning the program and establishing criteria to choose communities that will participate.
The law itself identifies 23 watersheds in 17 states as candidates, including two projects in Tucson. They are areas where the communities have requested more environmentally friendly flood control methods. See related story.
One of the candidates is the Mill Creek area in Cincinnati, which in 1997 was named the most endangered urban river in North America by the group American Rivers. The Challenge 21 funding would complement an ongoing project to restore the watershed to green space, advocates say.
Right now, Mill Creek is ``viewed by the public as an open sewer running down the middle of the city,'' said Dennis Murphey, chairman of the Mill Creek Watershed Council.
On the other extreme, several communities near Houston are trying to keep a local creek in the pristine condition it's always had.
For at least three years, the group Friends of Clear Creek has been fighting off proposals for old-style flood control projects along Clear Creek, said Mona Shoup, co-chair of the group. Eight cities along the creek signed resolutions opposing the creek's channelization.
In the South Valley in Albuquerque, there is no one river that threatens residents. The problem, rather, is the flat land. When it storms, the rainwater has nowhere to go, so it ``ponds'' all over the area, creating not one but many isolated flooding problems throughout the valley.
``There's never been a comprehensive solution to the problem,'' said Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.
Local officials hope Challenge 21 can form an umbrella organization for all the ongoing local and state efforts to solve the pervasive flooding problems there.
``The project is very complex, very comprehensive, and we'll have pieces of different approaches,'' Wilson said.
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