By Daniel Cusick
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What is the best way to protect vulnerable communities from severe flooding when the rivers themselves are undergoing dramatic changes? And if one river community takes steps to reduce its flood risk, does it have a responsibility to make sure its solutions doesn't negatively affect downstream neighbors?
Nowhere is that discussion more relevant than on the Meramec, one of the longest free-flowing rivers in Missouri and the site of some of the worst river flooding in the United States over the last 25 years.
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While state and federal officials have identified numerous factors driving the Meramec's worsening flood profile — including increased rainfall intensity across the region due to climate change, the conversion of historic floodplains into impervious surfaces and backflow flooding from the Mississippi River during high water phases — other observers see a culprit at the river's edge: the Valley Park levee.
Completed in 2005 at a cost of $50 million, the levee is for some a source of consternation. It has helped to drive a wedge between flood control agencies like the Army Corps of Engineers and the communities the corps has pledged to protect from floods.
That's because floodwater that would normally flow to the outer reaches of the floodplain — including downtown Valley Park — is being displaced and redistributed to other areas. That can raise water levels on nearby properties.
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