Planning with hydrology

I was fortunate to be born and raised in the Flathead. As a newly married couple, my wife and I moved to Portland, Ore., in 1975. At the time, there was little development in the hills to the west of Portland.

Fast forward 30 years, and the slopes have mostly filled in with housing and infrastructure to support that housing. Between the paved roads, parking lots, driveways and roof tops, there are not enough permeable surfaces to absorb a good hard rain.

The problems of high volume non-absorbed rain water has become enormous for Portland and surrounding communities. Issues included mud slides, river flooding, frequent creek flooding and flooding of homes that are in low lying areas or bordering wet lands.

One minor issue that keeps this dilemma in focus for us is flooding at our local golf course. Five of the last 11 winters have delivered enough non-absorbed rain flowing over the banks of the Tualatin River to immerse two fairways in one-to-six feet of water. On the brighter side, I can usually break 90 on 16 holes.

The Flathead seems to be coming out of a near decade-long drought. With the amount of development that has gone on, it will be interesting to see how the valley handles the watershed during the next wet cycle.

The Whitefish city government shows vision and leadership in focusing the community on this issue early. One never read the word "hydrology" in the Oregonian until the water was under the bridge. Now we read about it way too often.

Scott Schmid

Portland, Ore.