Too many flood control 'cooks'

It didn’t flood last week in Portland.
It didn’t flood last month either.
But it could flood next month.
And it’s going to flood eventually unless there’s a comprehensive, workable plan in place to prevent it.
Mayor Randy Geesaman was on target last week when he listed flood control as a high priority during his state of the city address.
But the fact remains that — in spite of lots of talk and hours of meetings — downtown Portland is just about as vulnerable as it’s ever been.
The goal now, the simple goal for 2016, is to keep Portland flood control at the top of the agenda.
Dozens of ideas and potential solutions have been floated:
•Re-routing the Millers Branch via a large ditch to the Salamonie River east of Portland.
•Using hydraulic pumps to speed the water out of downtown to the river.
•Creating detention ponds north of Portland to slow the water in its flow to the river.
•Eliminating a bottleneck in the storm sewer that serves downtown Portland by installing a larger diameter sewer pipe to the river.
And more.
What’s been lacking — and what is needed — is a coordinated effort that will take us to an affordable solution.
There are so many entities involved — the city of Portland, the county drainage board, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, just to name a few — it’s clear no one is really in charge.
And until there is someone — some single office — charged with finding a solution, we’re not going to get anywhere. — J.R.