Confronting floods and drought in St. Louis

Recent years' floods and drought in St. Louis were a common threat for the area. The main reason for these extreme conditions was the location of the city, near the confluence of three rivers, as well as the climate change.

A team of designers and engineers, members of the Dutch Dialogues workshops has made attempts to confront this problem. The Dutch proposal of creating specific places where the river can flow freely as a ''multi-functional flood plain'' is part of them. According to this plan, a new channel on the east of the river will contribute to flood relief and also, changes in land properties and their use will assist to the area’s development. A similar approach was followed in the Dutch city of Nijemegen for which Fredrik Huthoff, an engineering physicist, comments: ''The system still needs levees, but the city faces fewer and weaker floods''.

Source: nextcity.org