Look beyond farmers to place flood blame

Oh! Those evil farmers who are causing our modern-day flooding. But wait! There might be something else at play.

What about all these new houses being built, which all have roofs and which shed rain? What about all those driveways and streets that shed more rain? But you say the excess is retained by those mosquito nests known as “retention or detention ponds.” What was I thinking? Well, they only hold the water from creating a flash flood, but they discharge their catch eventually.

How could I overlook those big complexes where we all work? The buildings that I've seen all have impervious roofs that shed rain into the storm sewer (river tributaries). The multitude of employees need parking, so we have lots to accommodate that need (more rain to shed).

Our ancestors, when building a house, would include a cistern. For the youngsters, the cistern collected the rain from the house and was used for the soft water purposes throughout the year, except when they went dry. We no longer have need for these as we can soften our water simply by recharging the softener with salty water, flushed down the drain.

Look out! Gulf, here we come.

Gazette Editorial Board, would you care to reconsider?

Wayne Schilling

Cedar Rapids