Dikes cause flooding on Missouri

[United Press International]

ST. LOUIS, May 10 (UPI) -- Using data from Lewis and Clark,
researchers in St. Louis showed water flow on the Missouri River
varies more today than it did 200 years ago.
The research also shows the river is some 220 yards narrower
at St. Charles, Mo., today and 500 yards across than in 1804 when it
was 720 yards.
The changes are due to modifications of the river by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, according to Robert Criss, of
Washington University and undergraduate student Bethany Ehlmann.
Wing dams, or wing dikes, are found approximately every
1,500 feet along the Missouri River, from outside St. Louis to Sioux
City, Iowa, ostensibly for controlling the river for the barge
industry, according to Criss.
"The ironic thing is that the Missouri River hardly has any
barge traffic; most of that is on the Mississippi," Criss said.
Criss said as a result of the dikes and modifications, the
water flow is deeper and there is more flooding.
The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the
North-Central Section of the Geological Society of America, in St.
Louis.