St. Louis Post-Dispatch / Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001

Flood-control efforts aren't helping, WU study says
By William Allen of The Post-Dispatch

A newly published Washington University study reinforces the notion that
flood-control
efforts are leading to more bad floods, scientists say.

The study, published in the scientific journal Geology, concludes that
flood heights at
several places on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers have risen by up
to 12 feet over
the past century.

The Army Corps of Engineers disputed the study, saying it was based on
faulty data.
The corps has built wing dams, levees, reservoirs and other structures
aimed at
aiding navigation and lessening the impact of floods.

The study, by professors Robert Criss and Everett Shock, adds to similar
research
that concluded those structures are causing worse and more frequent
floods.

Put simply, similar volumes of water moving down engineered rivers like
the Missouri
are causing floods of greater depth, Criss and Shock wrote in the
October issue of
Geology, released last month. This phenomenon "is increasing with time
and shows
no signs of stopping," they wrote.

The phenomenon is not happening on rivers like the Meramec, which
doesn't have
engineering structures, the scientists found.

"These increases correlate with continuing efforts to manage the rivers
and suggest
that certain management practices should be reconsidered," they wrote.
"Specifically,
the evidence given here indicates that levee construction and
channelization of the
lower Missouri River and middle Mississippi have greatly magnified flood
stages."

David Busse, a scientist with the corps, disagreed. Levees and
reservoirs have
combined to lessen the effects of major floods, including in the St.
Louis region,
Busse said in an interview. Wing dams - rock structures that jut out
from the river bank
and help stabilize channels - don't contribute to flooding, he said.

The university study is suspect because it didn't use the most current
data on
floodwater flow and didn't account for the contributions of reservoirs,
he said.

Criss said the study, paid for by the National Science Foundation, was
solid and the
data correct. He noted studies that reached similar conclusions
conducted by St.
Louis University, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, the
University of Missouri
at Rolla and Colorado State University.

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
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