Get smarter about flood protection

If you were forced into a fight because your home and family mementos were at stake, but you could choose your opponent, would you choose a 9-foot, 350-pound opponent or a 2-foot, 50-pound opponent? Ridiculous question.

Yes, but if the city chooses to fight Sun Valley, Indian Creek flooding where it is 9 feet tall, it will be as ridiculous and may cost the

$1 million reported in The Gazette.

The best place to stop a flood, the easiest and at the least cost, is at locations where the ground elevation is the highest because there the flood water depth is the least.

That location in the Sun Valley addition is about 6 feet in front of houses on Cottage Grove Parkway. It is not a convenient location, but flooding is never convenient. The location is less convenient than the front sidewalk where tiger dams were constructed, but this location compensates well for the additional inconvenience, by providing a more reliable and much higher level of flood protection. This inconvenience can be minimized by a design that provides minimum visibility.

It's important that we are headed in a direction that reduces costs and makes flood protection more feasible.

Marv Rops

Cedar Rapids