Vernon
Well, hydraulics got involved in a lot of the planning
channel improvements, for
A
example, even though channel improvement is more the same concept as a non-structural.
You can improve a channel and do it in a manner so that it still looks good. You're
getting flood control by improving the capability of the channel to handle more flow, but
you're doing it in an aesthetically pleasing manner, not the traditional concrete sides and
bottoms, but with small channels in the bottom and with walkways along the side and
different kinds of environmental plantings to make the whole thing look beautiful.
To do that, of course, they have to have a lot of hydraulic studies on the impacts of having
or not having different kinds of improvements. Of course, they have to know what size
floods they can handle with these type things, which is all part of the hydrology and
hydraulics aspect. So as long as there is any analysis of what is going to happen to the
water, why the hydrology and hydraulics people are involved in it. So it doesn't really
make too much difference whether it's a structural or some sort of a non-structural
approach to the problem.
One area which I've been getting into with my work now is flood proofing. It's part of
the so called non-structural. It's really a minor structural element of the non-structural
procedures where an individual is protected by raising or by sealing the house or by
moving it.
There are a lot of different techniques you can use for flood proofing an individual house.
People in the Corps--that's Jerry Peterson's group--have what they call a National
Floodproofmg
This committee is trying to promote ways and provide help
to people so they'll motivate them to go out and do flood proofing.
That's an area where the Corps has been giving lip service for a long time. But when it
comes right down to actually doing anything constructive, flood proofing for an individual
project, they don't do it. There are a few places where it has been done, and it's been
investigated in a lot of planning reports but the way they investigate it hardly ever seems
to come out feasible. I think, personally, that that's one of the areas, untapped areas, of
reducing flood damages in the future.
We're not going to be building very many more big projects because they're hard to justify
and most all of the traditional structural flood protection works that are justifiable have
been built. The ones that are marginal, they probably didn't get built. So what are you
going to do about these people that are staying in the floodplain that are located in the
floodplain and are going to stay there. They're not going to move on their own probably
unless they get some sort of motivation to do it, and that's the whole idea of this flood
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