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4.0 out of 5 stars
New ways needed to control flooding in Southern California, November 16, 2008
This review is from: Hazardous Metropolis: Flooding and Urban Ecology in Los Angeles (Hardcover)
Review of _Hazardous Metropolis_ by Jared Orsi
Southern California has always had a problem with either too little or too much water. Orsi's _Hazardous Metropolis_ is a history of how the region has coped with the latter problem.
The Los Angeles River has always been very susceptible to flooding and changing its course. Initially, when the population of Los Angeles occupied only a relatively small area, this didn't matter much. But as LA grew and spread out along the waterways and into the areas near the mountains, floods caused serious damage and occasional widespread destruction.
At first, flood control officials tried various technological solutions such as dams, flood control channels, and debris basins, with varying results. Sometimes, these strategies worsened the problem. After a particularly bad flood in 1938, the county, with the help of the Army Corps of Engineers, paved the channels of Los Angeles River and other waterways with concrete. For the most part, paving the channels seemed to work. So far, Southern California has not had the devastating flooding of the 1930's and before, although during two particularly strong storms, one in 1978 and another in 1980, the Los Angeles River came dangerously close to overflowing.
However, not everyone was satisfied with the proposed flood control plan. A dam at Whittier Narrows would have required much of the City of El Monte to be flooded. The citizens and leaders of El Monte, after a great deal of political haggling, managed to get the proposed dam moved to another location. The issue of El Monte was an important turning point in the history of the flood control plan, as it was the first time that public opinion had any effect on it.
In the mid-1960's, environmental concerns about the flood control plan started to come to
light. The City of Sierra Madre wanted the stream that flowed through it to look natural, not encased in concrete. And later, in the 1990's, activist groups pushed for a "regreening" of the concrete-lined Los Angeles River. The people living near the river were, however, less interested in returning it to its natural state and more interested in the its recreational potential, such as using the surrounding land for parks and playgrounds.
The last chapter in the book, "Historical Structure of Disorder", explains that natural events, such as floods, cannot always be perfectly predicted or managed by human actions. It is necessary to take into account the opinions of not only the engineers, but also those of the environmental organizations, community groups, and others who might be affected by any changes made in the flood control system
_Hazardous Metropolis_ covers the history and future of flood control in Southern California in an easy-to-understand manner. It is neither overly technical nor politically biased. Again he emphasizes having everyone involved in the flood control system listen to each other and work together
This book can be compared with Blake Gumprecht's _Los Angeles River_. While the Gumprecht book focuses on the Los Angeles River and environs, _Hazardous Metropolis_ describes the history of the entire flood control system, and describes the effect of flooding in other areas,
such as the neighborhoods near the foothills.
Both books give a good description of the slow but perceptible trend away from simply building dams and flood control channels toward addressing environmental, aesthetic, and recreational concerns along the waterways.
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