FLOOD01766

• County: Statewide
• Title: Using Multi-Objective Management to Reduce Flood Losses in Your Watershed
• Date: 1/1/1996
• Prepared For: EPA
• Prepared By: Association of State Floodplain Managers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

neighborhood. If you think in terms of the whole watershed (where the
water comes from and where it goes), you will come up with more
possible solutions and they will not cause problems for someone else.
Chapter 2 covers understanding your flood problem and watershed.

(3) Think broadly about possible solutions. to reduce your flood problem.
There are more ways to dg things than conventiqnal wisdom may suggest.
Don't get locked into wanting a flOodwall or other single-purpose project
without f!CSt checking out all the altematives. The basic ways of reducing
flood losses are introduced in Chapter 3.

(4) Identify the other community concerns and goals that could have a bearing
on the flood problem. Get people who are interested in those other
concerns to meet with you. Together, brainstorm the possible solutions that
can reach more than one of your objectives. Chapter 4 discusses some of
the issues (and the people and organizations behind them) that could be
coordinated with flood loss reduction. Chapter 5 describes ways to help
you and the others reach agreement and work together.

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(5) Obtain expert advice and assistance from government agencies and private
organizations. Find out what financial assistance and advice are available.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket and wait for that big .cure-a1I.
project that may never be funded. There are literally hundreds of programs
out there, you just have to pick them. The more commonly used ones are
identified in Chapters 3 and 4. Their national contacts are listed in .
Appendix A.

(6) Build a partnership among all the private and public groups and individuals
you can enlist to work on the objectives. More minds and hands mean that
bener ideas will result, people will be more likely to follow through, and
there will be more people to do the work: It will help if you follow a
systematic process to develop a M-O-M plan. Preparing a wrinen plan
helps keep you all organized, clarifies your solutions, and formalizes
everyone's participation. The planning process is described in Chapter 5.

Why Use M-O-M?

If you have a flood problem, you may ask "Why bother with this M-O-M stuff?
Why not just stop the flooding?" This is not as easy as it sounds, especially if you
are on a large river or the ocean. Structures to .stop. or control the floods can be
very expensive to build and maintain; take a long time to plan, fund, and build;
and can cost more than the value of the property they would protect. They may
adversely affect other properties, the environment, and other people's plans for the
area. As shown by the Mississippi River flood of 1993, they don't always work,
especially if a flood is larger than was anticipated.

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