Contradictory engineered water management signals the loss of flood equilibrium

Evidence

On the hill in the background are contoured strip-crops; they have been ‘curled’ by the erosion engineer to retard the run-off. The water must be confused by so much advice. — Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 424

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the actual hydrology of ‘uncurling’ streams versus contour strip-cropping — when did engineers realize ditching streams worsened floods, and what did that realization cost?
• CANDY: Water confused by so much advice is a genuinely fun, quoteable twist on contradictory infrastructure aims.
• XREF: connects to: Engineers framed preserved wetlands as natural flood-control infrastructure — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 510; Suburban sprawl created flood damage faster than engineered protections could counter — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 698; Floods are the natural behavior of streams, not abnormal events — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 1803 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Engineers framed preserved wetlands as natural flood-control infrastructure #exemplifies (0.85) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 510
• Hillside grading upstream imposes downstream water, flood, and navigation costs #exemplifies (0.85) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 668
• Wetlands buffer floods more cheaply than engineered flood control. #qualifies (0.82) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 645
• Suburban sprawl created flood damage faster than engineered protections could counter #complicates (0.80) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 698
• Flood barriers that protect one area flood its neighbors instead #exemplifies (0.80) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2777
• Storm sewers reduce local flooding by worsening downstream flooding. #exemplifies (0.80) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 807
• Floods are the natural behavior of streams, not abnormal events #corroborates (0.78) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1803
• Environmental destruction stems from structural imbalance, not individual villainy #expands (0.78) — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 617
• Cheap flood insurance creates moral hazard by encouraging settlement in flood-prone areas #exemplifies (0.75) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1786
• Floodplain residential construction skyrocketed in postwar boom cities #exemplifies (0.75) — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 682
• Spatial-temporal disconnect makes environmental conservation an abstraction not a necessity #expands (0.75) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2529
• Labeling wild rivers insane licenses damming that later produces its own floods #exemplifies (0.70) — Rob Nixon, Slow Violence and the Environmentalism…, 1186