Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 28 September 2001 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news011004-1
News
Defence worsens flooding
River engineering is doing more harm than good.
Flood-management measures may be increasing the risk of the Mississippi and other rivers bursting their banks, new research suggests1.
Robert Criss and Everett Shock of Washington University find that, for the same total amount of water flowing down the Mississippi - its discharge - the annual floods in the St Louis region have been getting steadily higher since 1860.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email redesign@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.