I think the Island Woods HOA is missing the mark. It will be a shallow victory if they get their 70/30 river flow channel split (30% to south) because their homes can flood anyway.

What they really need – and this would protect Laguna Pointe, too – is to cement in both channels and build retaining walls about 10 feet above grade. That way if the flows ever do get really high, the banks won’t crumble. Additionally, they need to remove all the trees from the split of the river to about Eagle Island State Park. Even with the river lined with cement, if a tree should fall there will still be flooding.

Half measures aren’t going to do it. Island Woods HOA should go all the way.

Guardian–
Flooding on the Boise river is a very interesting topic. A little history to look at on the WWW.
http://www.idptv.state.id.us/buildingbig/dams/luckypeak.html

Lucky Peak and Arrowrock, and Anderson Ranch have several competing interest. Lucky Peak was built in 1955 ( when I was a young lad of 8. The reasons given for building…. Recreation, irrigation, flood control, and last but not least hydro power. I remember very well when every concrete truck was headed up to the dam in the 80’s. Had to get the hydro done.

Irrigation companies… they want every drop of water in the dam… … Recreation… boater and boat salesman want as much water in the dam as they can get…Hydro… well the more water the more money they make… saves you and I big bucks when we pay our power bill. Flood control… well they are last on the list

Many things have changed in Boise since 1955. Easy to point your finger at the “well-heeled families ” ( your words) and say they shouldn’t have built where they did. Would it hurt to maybe rethink the dams priorities ?? Just a silly thought. I know for a fact that irrigation in Boise, Nampa has changed since 1950. Maybe flood control should move up on the list??

EDITOR NOTE–Couple of clarifications for you, Porc. Hydro doesn’t really save us anything on power because City of Seattle owns the power generating. There is nothing to change in the “priority” list with flood control, it worked. They had to make room for runoff to prevent an overflow of the dam which could have been a HUGE disaster. Water managers did what they had to do and from our perspective did it right. It is still dumb to build in a flood plain.

It has become quite clear that there were two heretofore unknown questions contained in the last census.
#1- Are you willing to live beyond your means?
#2- Do have more than two brain cells betwen you and your spouse?
If you answered “yes” to #1, and “no” to question #2, the government officially invited you to move to Eagle Island Idaho.
What a bunch of lunatics!

In retrospect one of the larger mistakes we Idahoans made was not giving the greedy souls to the south and west of us our water when they wanted to shuttle it to their states. As it has turned out, that would have been the lesser of the evils. Having them move here to consume, pollute and “recreate” on it (and even having the audacity to gripe about having too much of it during a normal year) has certainly been no bargain.

How naive of us to have worried about hydro power and agricultural irrigation back in the nineteen sixties and seventies.

Would that we could just renig and give them all our precious river water now, with the proviso that ALL refugees from those states be repatriated upon the start of the pipeline(s). If the Boise, the Payette and the Snake were dry, perhaps the allure and myth of Idaho would not be so strong. I would be very pleased to see the newbies deported back home to consume, pollute and recreate with the diverted water from our no longer flowing rivers.

Guardian, do you suppose those perfidious, but coy, escaped Koi have made it to the now flooded lower portion of Eagle Island and are arrogantly trying to breed our hatchery trout? I think the residents of lower Eagle Island and we, the owners of the Hatchery, should sue the developers and homeowners who have caused this new downstream flooding.

EDITOR NOTE– For you non-library types “perfidious” is deceitful and untrustworthy.

Thanks for posting on the new development. When this contoversy began my wife, a mapmaker for a state agency, sent an aerial photo of the island showing the new lots. All I could think was that the madness continues. The developer only has to wait six months and the buying and forgetful public will greedily gobble up those lots for their place on the river.

I have to reiterate that I agree the City of Eagle should be sued for ignoring the threat of flooding. Not because they should alleviate the potential flood risk but for allowing the development into a place where a flood will assuredly occur. There are plenty of necessary community amenities that could have been more properly placed in the flood plain like parks or golf courses, thus preserving the prime location for all, not a few, and preserving popular wildlife riparian corridors.

From a community planning standpoint it makes sense not to build structures, particularly residential structures, where the water will run.

Which brings me to Catherine’s comments. I don’t think dikes or levees are the answer. You’ll just be pushing water into somebody else’s place. On May 17 the news channels ran a story on a long time farmer experiencing his first flood event and which he blames on upstream development. Moreover the proposal would never fly because of the permitting requirements, the substantial increase in the cost of the development, and the most assured griping from other riparian landowners.

Sisyphus, I was joking.

Sorry Catherine I missed the hyperbole. Its not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Tam, yours I got. You crack me up.

To Jon Q and others who live in the New York Irrigation District yet have no access to water but are still paying semi-annual fees: Please call the Irrigation District on Monday (378-1023) and look into how you can transfer your water rights back to the District so you can stop paying for something you do not get! I do not believe it was always possible to do so, but it is now.