FLOOD CONTROL REMAINS VITAL TO REGION

A wealth of Southeast Missouri water-related projects are included in the federal Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which, with the president's approval, will provide nearly $4 billion for an assortment of projects nationwide during fiscal year 1999.

The fact that $29 million would be earmarked for new and ongoing work in Southeast Missouri is evidence of the importance the government puts on flood control in this region.

The region is blessed with an abundance of rivers and streams that provide beauty, recreation and water for human consumption. The government chose years ago to try and control that water -- particularly the Mississippi, St. Francis, Castor and Black rivers -- and now must continue to do so through maintenance of countless miles of Mississippi River levees and floodways, Wappapello Lake on the St. Francis River and Clearwater Lake on the Black.

Among significant projects that would be funded is one to raise and widen the Commerce-Birds Point mainline levee. It stretches along the Mississippi River some 35 miles from Commerce in Scott County to the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers south of Charleston in Mississippi County. The levee is critical because is protects 5,300 square miles of Southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas. If that levee were to break, a flood of devastating proportions would follow. It is the first time the levee will undergo a major upgrade.

It is imperative that the Commerce-Birds Point levee be properly maintained and upgraded. If if isn't, new flood-control projects carried out upstream will continue to further confine the Mississippi, putting pressure on the levee system downstream and sending the river to new heights each time it floods.