Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Goals, Institutions and
Governance: the US Experience
25
GERALD E. GALLOWAY
Floods have . . . devastated more families and
communities in the United States than all other
natural hazards combined
Interagency Floodplain Management Task Force
of the Mississippi River at NewOrleans and along
the shorelines of colonial farms in southern New
Jersey near the Delaware River estuary. While
individual floodplain occupants had been dealing
with local flooding by elevating their homes, mov-
ing to higher ground during peak flows, or using
other adaptation techniques, the first formal pro-
jects were focused on keeping the flood away from
property through use of earthen levees. These
early efforts launched the new nation into a struc-
tural flood control paradigm. Throughout the 19th
century and more than halfway through the 20th
century, this focus on providing structural protec-
tion for those at risk continued. As the nation
moved to the West and the growing population
occupied more andmore lands subject to flooding,
the federal government was called on to take steps
tomitigate the flood damages that were occurring.
The Mississippi River Basin, draining 41% of the
coterminous USA, was a central artery for com-
merce and a target for settlement and thus became
the focal point of federal interest in dealing with
floods (Fig. 25.1). In 1849, 1850 and 1860, federal
legislation was enacted that gave title to swamp-
lands across the country to the states in which
they were located so that the states in turn could
drain the wetlands, sell this new farmland to the
public, and use the money to provide the same
lands with protection against floods (USGS 2008).
Thirty years later, faced with growing flood da-
mages along the banks of the Mississippi River,
theCongress established aMississippi River Com-
mission 'to take into consideration and mature
such plan or plans and estimates' that will provide
for navigation and prevent floods (Mississippi
In 1993, a major flood devastated the US Midwest
causing nearly $20 billion in damages and the loss
of over 138 lives. Over the next 15 years, the USA
experienced several large regional floods, the ca-
tastrophe of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and in
2008 a near repeat of the 1993 Midwest flood.
These events demonstrated to the nation the
shortfalls in its approach to reducing flood da-
mages and the need to focus on the goals, gover-
nance mechanisms and institutions that shape
that approach. It became obvious in the analysis
of the current approach that the effort had become
fragmented and there was a need to harmonize its
many components. This chapter describes the US
experience in evolving its current approach to
flood management and steps that are being taken
to deal with new challenges that have arisen.
Dealing with Floods: From
Colonies to Katrina
The first formal efforts in the USA to deal with
flooding occurred in the early part of the 18th
century almost simultaneously along the banks
