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Sierra Club Warns Public About Flood Danger Analysis shows flood damage made worse by wetlands drainage and floodplain development. Denver, CO -- The Sierra Club today warned the public about the danger of flooding that recently killed a Denver firefighter. The group released a report showing that floodplain sprawl and wetland destruction are causing more flood deaths and damage in Colorado and across the country. Permitting Disaster in Colorado: How Smart Growth Can Protect Your Family from More Flood Risks shows that the federal and state agencies gave developers 99% of the wetland destruction permits requested between 1988-1996. "Permitting Disaster shows that developers and agribusiness continue to destroy wetlands and build in floodplains. The recent approval of a Super Walmart in the 100 year floodplain of the Poudre River is an invitation for disaster. We need to make these areas off limits to development for our own good," said Janna Six of Ft. Collins, Sierra Club Poudre Canyon Group Chair. "Developers have already destroyed half of our wetlands and are filling more each day. This report shows that our current floodplain land use plans are just speedbumps for the developers’ bulldozers." The report shows that from 1988-96, Colorado developers got almost all the wetland destruction permits they requested, even in Larimer, Weld, and 11 other counties that the President declared Flood Disasters. Floods killed 9 in Colorado and 957 in the country from 1989-98. Floods destroyed $390 million in Colorado homes and property, and $45 billion in the country during that same time. "I was in Estes Park during the Big Thompson flood of 1976, and that taught me that floodplains are plainly unsafe for development," said Brett Hulsey, report author and Director of the Sierra Club Challenge to Sprawl Campaign. The 1976 Big Thompson Canyon flood was one of the country’s worst flood disasters. "The first tenet of Smart Growth is to make floodplains off limits to developers to protect our families from floods." Meanwhile, federal taxpayers paid more than $500 million to move more than 17,000 American homes and businesses out of the floodplains after floods from 1988-98. "It is crazy that we are allowing developers to build in floodplains, at the same time we are paying billions to move people out of floodplains and for flood damage," said Hulsey. "The state should not allow development in floodplains in the first place." On Friday, August 25, the Sierra Club is sponsoring a free showing of the video "Subdivide and Conquer: A New American Western" at the Denver Public Library at 7:00 pm. The award-winning video shows the impacts of sprawl and gives examples of good land use planning that can make our communities safer and nicer places to live. "You can protect yourself from worse flooding by restoring wetlands upstream and slowing floodplain sprawl," said Chicago hydrologic engineer Donald Hey, who has studied wetlands and flooding. "Our studies show that watersheds with more wetlands, have less severe flooding." Wetlands, prairies, and other natural habitat soak up floodwater like sponges, filter our drinking water, and provide homes for fish and wildlife. One study showed that floods increase by 7% for every 1% of wetlands destroyed. "Disaster by Design," a recent National Science Foundation report headed up by CU Professor Dennis Mileti shows that floodplain sprawl and flood control projects often increase flood risk and damages. "The reason they call them floodplains is that it is plain that they flood," said Hulsey. "We need Governor Owens to help protect people from floods by limiting floodplain sprawl before it happens, and moving people out of floodplains after the floods happen." Permitting Disaster in Colorado - Key Facts Wetlands are marshes, forests, and bogs that are in low-lying areas that are wet for at least two weeks in the summer. Wetlands filter our drinking water, soak up flood water, clean our river and lakes, and provide homes for fish and wildlife. States with the most flood deaths also have the most wetland destruction permitted in Presidentially declared flood disaster counties. Annual damages in Colorado doubled from 1984 to 1998 from $17.6 million to $39 million per year. Colorado developers got 5,500 permits to drain and fill Colorado’s wetlands from 1988 to 1996. State and Federal regulators only rejected 28 permits. Developers and agribusinesses have drained and destroyed almost half or 49% of America’s and 50% of Colorado’s wetlands through 1985, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates. That is 1,000,000 acres of drained wetlands which is like losing 300,000 small flood control dams, which assumes 3 acre-feet storage for wetlands and 10 acre-feet per dam. There are 276 Colorado cities with 65,000 homes, businesses and other structures in floodplains and many more in unmapped high hazard areas, according to state data. An acre of wetlands can store up to 1.6 million gallons of floodwater, according researchers, depending on the type of wetland. Prairie pothole wetlands can store more. Restoring prairie, wetlands, and soil conservation practices can reduce 100 year floods by up to 40%, according to USDA studies. Current state and federal laws allow developers to build in 100 year floodplains if they elevate the home or business one foot above the 100 year level. Many of the state’s floodplain maps are more than 0 years out of date. Much of the current flooding is occurring outside the mapped 100 year floodplain. Developers got 129,552 "rubber stamp" Nationwide Permits to destroy wetlands in the U.S. between 1988-96. The Army Corps granted a total of 36,701 Nationwide 26 Permits from 1988-96 and 78,065 acres in total Nationwide Permit loss. Almost half or 40% of America’s permitted wetland destruction was from Nationwide Permit 26, the easy wetland destruction permit that allowed developers to destroy up to 3 acres of "isolated" wetland, without warning neighbors. One-third (38%) of the wetlands filling in Colorado was with Nationwide Permit 26. In the Mississippi River basin, Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois have destroyed the most wetlands, 87% on average. These states accounted for $11.8 billion of the total $15.7 billion in 1993 flood damages. Restoring just 13 million acres of wetlands, less than 3% of the watershed, could store most of the Upper Mississippi River floodwater, according to hydrologist’s estimates. At current average cost of $1,000 per acre for the Wetland Reserve Program easements, that would cost $13 billion, much less than the $16 billion 1993 flood costs. Global warming appears to be increasing the amount and intensity of rain and snow events. Since 1900, the number of extreme rain and snow events has increased by one-fifth or 20%, according to U.S. Department of Commerce studies. For a copy of the report, call the Sierra Club at 608-257-4994. Up to Top |
