LETTERS: OTHER FACTORS TO BLAME FOR FLOODING

To the editor:

On Sept. 2, Joe Vernier, president of the self-styled Lake Facts Committee, was accorded nearly 12 column inches to express his views on the Bollinger/Cape Girardeau counties lake project. Though members might attempt to portray their group as an independent and unbiased source of information, we should note that this committee is no impartial entity. Rather, it is seems only interested in providing evidence, opinion and argument (their so-called facts) that are consistent with the pro-lake view of the group.

Mr. Vernier waxes extensively on studies which he feels suggest that the lake would reduce flooding downstream. Indeed, he quite clearly tries to link the proposed lake with flood control that would benefit folks who live in the cities of Jackson and Cape Girardeau, implying that flooding in these cities would be reduced by this lake. However, the last I heard about the lake, it was to be located on the Whitewater River system. Now, the proposed dam on the Whitewater may well reduce flooding downstream on that drainage system, but this has very little to do with the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, which are on different creek systems. Indeed, these cities suffer flooding primarily because of the largely uncontrolled development projects over the last few decades that have replaced so much woodland, grassland and farmland with concrete and tarmac. These transformations eliminate the ability of the ground to soak up rainfall, which then flows across the surfrace, accumulates and floods homes and businesses. These cities have suffered increasingly from floods during heavy local rains, and Cape particularly has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on flood-control programs, paying dearly for its historic lack of planning. It is difficult to imagine how a dam on the Whitewater River would influence the very local rainfall and flood patterns in these cities. It is even more difficult to imagine how such a dam would have any impact on the severe backwater flooding that we in Cape suffer from the Mississippi River as a result of the increasingly frequent hundred-year floods. These floods result from deforestation and land mismanagement projects past and present that are located tens to hundreds of miles upstream along the Mississippi River, well out of the sphere of influence of Mr Vernier's beloved lake.

Facts are few and far between in this world. We are foolhardy if we assign to opinions such high and unquestioned certainty as genuine facts would merit.

ALAN R.P. JOURNETDpartment of BiologySoutheast Missouri State University

Cape Girardeau