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<br />001181 <br /> <br />PART n: CASE HISTORIES OF MULTJ.GOVERNMENT <br />FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />The case studies which follow illus- <br />trate a variety of problems and ap- <br />proaches in the management of flood- <br />plains by multiple governments. The <br />studies concern small urbanizing water- <br />sheds located in six diverse regions and <br />states: Mississippi, Oitlahoma, illinois, <br />Tennessee, Minnesota, and Massachu. <br />setts. While the nature of the flood prob- <br />lem, the extent of urban development, <br />and the laws and customs of each area <br />differ, there is much of value to be <br />learned from each case history which <br />may be applied elsewhere in the U.S. <br />The first two cases-the Pearl River in <br />Mississippi and Haikey Creek in Okla- <br />homa-depict "horror stories" of the re- <br />sults of lack of intergovernmental plan- <br />ning and coordination in floodplains. <br />While each is complex in its facts, the <br />Pearl River case involves principally a <br />conflict between cross-stream jurisdic- <br />tions while Haikey Creek presents <br />upstream-downstream issues. <br />The next four cases illustrate various <br />approaches to multi-governmental coor- <br />dination, with differing degrees of suc- <br />cess. In the Salt Creek case, a county <br />forest preserve district served as catalyst <br />to an intercommunity floodplain acquisi- <br />tion program. Maryville and Alcoa, Ten- <br />nessee, under the benevolent encourage- <br />ment of TV A agreed to coordinate their <br />floodplain policies through an intergov- <br />ernmental agreement. Lilydale, Minne- <br />sota, was relieved of a chronic flood <br />problem through extraterritorial action <br />by Ramsey County which acquired the <br />Lilydale floodplain and relocated its resi- <br />dents. Finally, the Charles River case <br />indicates the opportunities for coordi- <br />nating federal, state, and local actions- <br />both structural and nonstructural-to <br />relieve flooding on a basinwide basis. <br /> <br />1. JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI-PERIL <br />ON THE PEARL <br /> <br />Thi3 is the story of wishful thinking <br />in .Juckson, Mississippi-by the local <br /> <br />authorities, the local citizens, and <br />the federal government-all of <br />whom ignored the possibility of <br />disaster until it struck on Easter, <br />1979. <br /> <br />The Setting: At the River's Edge <br /> <br />The Pearl River rises in central Mi81lis- <br />sippi and flows south for 240 miles until <br />it reaches the Gulf of Mexico at the <br />boundary between Mississippi and Lou- <br />isiana. Its watershed is about 8,760 <br />square miles-usually drained in a lei- <br />surely fashion, for the Pearl is in most <br />places, at most times, a shallow, meander- <br />ing stream' (average gradient, approxi- <br />mately one foot per mile). <br /> <br />About halfway down the Pearl-with <br />3,110 square miles of drainage area <br />above it-lies Mississippi's capital city, <br />Jackson, on the west bank of the river. <br />The natural floodplain at Jackson is <br />around two miles wide, through which <br />the Pearl plods sluggishly. However, <br />neither the floodplain nor the river's <br />course are still natural there: the ROBS <br />Barnett Dam just upstream, extensive <br />channelization, and levees on the east <br />and west banks (all constructed during <br />the 1960's) have caused subltantial river- <br />ine changes. <br /> <br />Nor has the city and its environs <br />stayed the same. Between 1960 and <br />1976, Jackson grew from 144,422 to <br />205,100 in population (partly through <br />annexation). Across the river, the city <br />of Pearl's population has more than <br />tripled, going from 5,081 in 1960 to <br />15,750 in 1976 (although the small town <br />of Flowood has largely held to its 1960 <br />level of 500 due to a lack of bridge ac- <br />cess to Jackson. In addition, the wholly <br />new city of Richland with a population <br />of more than 3,000 has grown up on the <br />east bank since 1960 (Fig. 13). <br /> <br />Why all this growth? To some extent, <br />it can be attributed to normal popula- <br />tion change, but it is also due to other <br /> <br />27 <br />