Wonder if this can possibly happen?

[bourbeusefisher]

http://www.emissourian.com/local_news/county/officials-discuss-bourbeuse-river-dam/article_0775fa26-e169-56d3-bbb2-846ecd2b72c7.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share  

No matter what is said I'm sure this will cause a firestorm with people on both sides. 

[Al Agnew]

I don't think there has been a large dam built on any stream in the United States since the early 1980s.  The Union dam on the Bourbeuse died a quiet death after the Meramec Dam was defeated in the referendum in 1978, and after MDC came out with a study that said it would take something like 30 to 40 thousand acres of land put into wildlife habitat elsewhere to mitigate the loss of habitat if the Union Dam was built.  They called it some of the best, most diverse habitat in the state.  I highly doubt that anything will come of this idea.  The Corps of Engineers appears to have accepted that their dam building days are over; in this era of politicians at least paying lip service to cutting spending, the amount of money any dam would require from the federal government (taxpayers), in return for flood protection ONLY for the lower Bourbeuse Valley, since the Meramec and Big River would still flood and inundate St. Louis County, is not going to fly with either fiscal conservatives or environmentalists.

I thought it was telling that the official quoted said there was not "just" woodland and farmland along the stretch where the original dam was proposed, there was also more development.  That's living in the past, for sure.  Woodland and farmland have a considerable amount of value in themselves these days.

And the cost of a major dam would be astromomical in today's dollars.  You could save money by simply buying up all the floodplain on the lower Bourbeuse and moving the development out of it.  Gee, how's that for thinking "out of the box"?

[DADAKOTA]

Build in the flood plain you will get wet.  Build on the top of the hill you stay dry.  Seems simple to me.

[Old plug]

13 minutes ago, DADAKOTA said:

Build in the flood plain you will get wet.  Build on the top of the hill you stay dry.  Seems simple to me.

t is not as all simple as that anymore. 

 

[Greasy B]

It has been proven time and again, the best way to prevent flood damage is to stay out of harms way. As everyone who lives and works near our rivers that have flood control reservoirs know, dams only protect some areas from some floods. A Union reservoir would not have prevented this flood:  The extreme east-central Missouri flash flood of 6–7 May 2000

[snagged in outlet 3]

Don't build in the floodplain.  It floods!

[Old plug]

The thing about flood plains is you have to know where they are like 100 yr 1000 yr. The problem here is your going to have to pay flood insurance that is very costly according to the flood plain map and not what you see. Moral of the story is check the flood plain map if your going to build or have someone explain where your planning to build on the map.

[Gavin]

Always buy or build up on the hill. Its silly to see the billions that went into retail development in Chesterfield Valley since the flood of 1993. Lots of levy improvements, but you know its going to get flooded again sooner or later.

 

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

I don't care if it's a 100 year or 10,000 year flood plain.  It will flood. 

[Smalliebigs]

I know one thing the land management in the riparian corridor has sucked on the Bourb and the Meramec....both are just a frigging mess by the time you get to the end of both rivers. The water is a joke....so silted and muddy pretty much all the time other than in the Winter. Whoever is farming and owning the land in the corridor isn't doing the corridor any favors.

I am not saying I am for a dam before all of you jump my arse but, there is very little good land use practices going on between Agriculture and private land recreational use. 

 

    On a happier note the stream teams in my neck of the woods made me sooo proud Saturday.....there were hundreds of volunteers with boats and canoes getting dirty pulling all kinds of trash out of the corridor in Valley Park Saturday.....it made me very proud and happy and conversely the Bull Float out of Leasburg completely hosed the river with silt, piss, vomit and litter to the extreme

Good things 300+ old tires removed from the Meramec between RT 66 park and the Kirkwood ramp and several  tons of garbage  total. ...Clean Stream in the house!!!! You guys made me proud!!!!!

The fact that loosers will just dump tires in the river makes me sick....I know some of the debris is from floods but, a lot isn't from floods and is blatant disregard for the corridor and if I saw you putting  your ~~ in the river I would shoot first and leave you for the coyotes