This article in this morning’s Bee might as well be applied to the reasons to consider a dam on the American, though the consequences of not controlling the flooding waters on the American are much more severe than on the Cosumnes, but as development grows and more people move into the area, that will not always be so.
As the beavers have taught us, dams are an ancient and very sound way to control water.
Here is an excerpt.
County studies Cosumnes dam
It's one option being considered to tame and better cope with storm-fed surges along the river.
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, May 14, 2006
A lazy summer hum has settled over the pastures of Point Pleasant, where cattle graze beside Interstate 5, bees swirl around white-boxed hives and residents get a rare insurance subsidy from Sacramento County.
This enclave of homes and hayfields southwest of Elk Grove has received government-paid flood insurance for years, and is likely to keep it until someone, somehow figures out how to keep the place dry.
With nearly two decades of discussion behind them, county officials are hoping to make headway this year, in a series of wide-ranging workshops that will look at proposed solutions - including damming the Cosumnes River.
"We've never looked at a dry dam on the Cosumnes," one that would hold water only rarely to prevent floods when the river runs high, said Craig Crouch, a Sacramento County engineer.
"We're doing the analysis to see if it has any legs, from a technical standpoint."
A dry dam, which would fill ranchland in El Dorado and Amador counties with water perhaps a dozen times a century, could be one way to help Wilton farmers, Delta marinas, Point Pleasant residents and reservoir managers better cope with storm-fed surges along the Cosumnes.
