Thursday, July 12, 2007
Sacramento River Flood Control Needs an Urban/Rural Strategy
Farms are important for prevention of flooding in our cities
"When a farm floods during a huge storm, the lands retain and absorb waters that otherwise would flow downstream. Urbanizing these areas and fortifying subdivisions behind new levees would have the effect of sending a lot more water downstream during high river flows." (reported today in the Sacramento Bee)Land development, water development and preserving the environment are all interconnected
Sacramento is the U.S. city with the greatest risk of flooding. We cannot afford to raise the risks even higher through more of the foolish land development practices that we have permitted in the past throughout the Sacramento River valley. I applaud Rep. Matsui for getting the discussion started. I hope that our political leaders can come up with some package of economic incentives to keep flood-prone farmland in farming and some zoning regulations to prohibit flood-prone lands from being foolishly developed.More about: River Conservation and Flood Control in California.
Tags: rivers, flood, flooding.
Labels: conservation
