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<br />Chapter 3 <br /> <br />FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT <br /> <br />Floodplain management seeks to reduce the damaging effects of floods, preserve <br />and enhance natural values and provide for optimal use of land and water <br />resources within the floodplain. Its goal is to strike a balance between the <br />values obtainable from the use of floodplains and the potential losses to <br />individuals and society arising from such use. <br /> <br /> <br />The extent of development on the <br />nation's floodplains varies from place <br />to place. Some floodplains are already <br />developed intensively, particularly <br />near large population centers along the <br />coasts, the Great Lakes and the major <br />rivers where earliest settlement began. <br />Other floodplain lands are extensively <br />altered or developed for agriculture or <br />other less intensive uses, and some <br />floodplains remain in a rela ti vely <br />natural state. The trend has been <br />toward further and more intensive <br />development of floodplains to meet the <br />needs of a growing population. <br /> <br />This development or alteration <br />has resulted in the exposure to flood <br />losses of billions of dollars worth of <br />property and millions of people. At the <br />same time, it has greatly diminished <br />the floodplains' natural values. Even <br />if further development of floodplains <br />stopped, it would take decades to deal <br />wi th the accumulated backlog of flood <br />problems and to correct the w.ost severe <br />abuses of the floodplain. <br /> <br />The unrestrained development of <br />floodplains is costly and dangerous. <br />Yet the floodplains offer advantages <br />which make it impractical to totally <br />prohibi t any further development. <br />Floodplain management is a rational <br />approach to balancing these two oppos- <br />ing facts. <br /> <br />Definition of Floodplain <br />Management <br /> <br />Floodplain management is a <br />comprehensive approach to floodplain <br />use that involves private owners of <br />floodplain land, all levels of govern- <br />ment and the general public in: <br /> <br />. Coping with the effects of past <br />development of floodplains. <br /> <br />. Guiding the future use of both flood- <br />plains and adjacent areas where use <br />could affect the floodplain. <br /> <br />The overall goal of floodplain <br />management is the optimal use of the <br />floodplain, while recognizing that the <br />need for and value of economic develop- <br />ment, recreation, open space and other <br />possible uses varies from place to <br />place and from time to time. The goal <br />of optimal use is rarely attained <br />because of the difficulties in measur- <br />ing the benefits and costs of <br />floodplain uses and in quantifying the <br />flood hazard. Floodplains cannot be <br />developed while, at the same time, <br />avoiding exposure to flood losses and <br />maintaining all of those values associa- <br />ted with their natural state. <br /> <br />Floodplain management seeks to <br /> <br />10 <br />