Show lood flood control at ii source saves sol soil I 1 h arbing ing excess runoff of irain ain water Is necessary washington floods must be con lied at their source where the tn falls on the land it the recent in eastern sections of the Xi Is to be prevented in the fue 1 le according to H 11 bennett chief anthe the soil conservation service detriment I 1 of 0 agriculture over cutting 0 f woodlands erces je e cultivation of steep slopes and erakly unwise practices in the use land in the flooded watersheds are ya considerable degree responsible the present acute situation he be blared cl ared work the last two years in I 1 watersheds throughout the coun indicates that the volume of run water can be reduced 20 to 25 per it through the use of erosion con COD 11 ll methods bennett states this the margin in most cases between re e high water and destructive ds there can be no permanent con 1 or of floods he be added until we re control of erosion over entire ter ersh sheds edg from the crest of ridges ya n across the slopes where floods illy ly originate and where soil Is picked up to choke stream ways which have only a limited capacity for carrying water to the sea curb excess runoff detention darns dams dykes and similar engineering measures are essential to complete flood control in localities where the hazard Is unusually severe bennett said such works however are only part of a complete flood prevention plan which should start wit with curbing excess runoff of rainwater on the sloping lands in every watershed d erosion control operations already have greatly reduced floods on a number of typical headwater streams la in our demonstration watersheds it if floods can be reduced in this manner mann er along the little waters there Is 18 no reason why they cannot be reduced all the way down the drainage basins through which the larger streams low flow reports from soil conservation projects in the flood area blame the present situation in large part on the denudation and unwise use of land in the affected watershed improper land use positively contributing to present situation wired H F eaton manager of the project at bath N Y observations of field staff indicate all control methods slow up velocities and reduce soil movement conclude from such observations ions that erosion control methods are an essential part of any carefully planned flood control activity improper land use A report by dr P F IS howe protes sor of soils at cornell university and former head bead of soil conservation work in new york says 1 I am of the opinion that the flood problem in central southern new york has partially been created and to a considerable extent aggravated by im proper land use new york experiments howe said show that in a single growing season of normal rainfall runoff from a single acre of corn land Is gallons greater than from a single acre of meadow experimental data also shows that tor for the country as a whole grass trees legumes and other thick grow ing plants are on an average 65 times more effective than clean tilled crops in holding soil from washing and five times more effective in preventing flash runoff of rainwater sudden intense rains were the immediate cause of the present torrential floodwaters flood waters with melting snow in the highlands pouring additional millions of gallons of water across denuded slopes into drainage streams bennett stated vegetative covering on the land lie he pointed out binds the soil against the wash of runoff water increases the absorptiveness of the soil and creates an impediment to the rapid runoff that swells streams beyond capacity opacity |