STATEMENT OF E. I. MEYERS, CONSULTING ENGINEER, MISSOURI RIVER FLOOD PROTECTION ASSOCIATION The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Meyers, you are the consulting engineer representing the Miami district and other labor districts in the Missouri Valley Flood Control Association. Mr. MEYERS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Now those are districts in and around Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, and the area below that was formerly represented by Judge Bell. Mr. MEYERS. Yes, sir. All of these districts lie below Kansas City and extend about 130 miles downstream from Kansas City to the mouth of the Grand River at Brunswick. The CHAIRMAN. Yes, sir. I thought I remembered that. Now tell me if you have a prepared statement that you would like to submit to us. Mr. MEYERS. I do. I have a statement prepared by the Missouri River Flood Control Association which constitutes these 42 districts and about 278,000 acres of flood plain land. The CHAIRMAN. What are the points that you want to make in connection with that? Mr. MEYERS. The point I want to make, briefly stated, is this: We have been building levees there and I have served a great number of those districts as engineer over the past 30 years, and we have found it necessary to raise the heights of our levees since 1935 approximately 5 feet in order to meet conditions as they now occur. If we had had proper reservoir control, we would not have had approximately $28,000,000 of loss in the last 5 years. The CHAIRMAN. All right, that is point number 1. What is our next point? Mr. MEYERS. The next point is that in 1948, this area produced approximately $28,000,000 worth of agricultural products. That was a year in which we did not suffer flood losses. It is the amount that we believe could reasonably be expected to be produced in any normal. crop-growing reason if we do not have floods. Now we are asking for the reservoir controls on the Kansas. We already have the controls on the upper tributaries of the Missouri, and agricultural levees are being built and are being maintained without any threat of overflow above Kansas City, Mo., on the main stem of the Missouri River. The CHAIRMAN. So, to supplement your local protective works, you favor these two reservoirs that are under consideration. Mr. MEYERS. We believe that they are fully justified and are necessary; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And we are glad to have your statement. You may present that to the reporter. Mr. MEYERS. Thank you. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any other point in addition to the main points that you have mentioned? Mr. MEYERS. No. I think those are the high points of my presen tation. (Statement submitted by Mr. Meyers follows:) STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY THE MISSOURI RIVER FLOOD PROTECTION ASSOCIATION, KANSAS CITY-MIAMI DISTRICT, BEFORE HEARING OF SUBCOMMITTEE OF PUBLIC WORKS ON FLOOD CONTROL 1. Organization The membership of the Missouri River Flood Protection Association, Kansas City-Miami district, comprises the owners of land and other property within the flood plane of the Missouri River from Kansas City, Mo., to the mouth of the Grand River near Brunswick, Mo., a distance of 130 miles measured along the river channel, and covering approximately 278,000 acres of land situated within the flood plane of the valley. The association includes representation by the boards of supervisors and other officers of 42 legally organized drainage and devee districts, representing approximately 150,000 acres of land, and it also includes individual landowners whose land is not included in any legally organized drainage and levee district, but who have provided levee protection to an additional 50,000 acres of land. Other members of the association are owners of approximately 80,000 acres of land which at the present time are either above the ordinary flood elevations of the Missouri River or are located in unprotected areas along the river. The activities of the association are under the control of a board of directors consisting of one member for each organized drainage and levee district and one member for each 500 acres or more of privately owned areas not included within organized districts. The officers of the association are elected annually by the board of directors, and at the present time are as follows: W. P. Lyman, Kansas City, Mo., president; Lou Lozier, Carrollton, Mo., vice president; and William M. Huston, Marshall, Mo., secretary-treasurer. 2. Purpose The association was formed 2 years ago for the purpose of coordinating as far as possible the individual efforts of the landowners within the area toward a comprehensive plan of flood protection along the Missouri River. The need for such coordination is admittedly becoming more and more urgent as the number of organized levee districts increase and the construction of levees become more numerous. Organized districts in the area have within the last few years realized that to provide adequate protection against present-day floods in the Missouri River it is necessary to construct much higher and stronger levees to overcome the increased flood heights which are resulting from numerous conditions which are rapidly changing not only within the Missouri River Valley itself but upon the tributary area adjacent to the stream. The members of the association realize that they alone cannot provide adequate flood protection by levees but that other means of flood control must be provided before it is possible to construct and maintain levees of sufficient sige and strength to furnish protection against major floods which may be expected. The members of the association, although constituting legally organized drainage and levee districts under the laws of the State of Missouri, do not have the power or authority to provide any other form of flood protection than that of agricultural levees within their own district-therefore, the primary purpose of the association is to work for the ultimate accomplishment of a comprehensive plan for flood control for the Missouri River Basin. The association members believe that when such a plan is finally carried into construction it will provide for all types of flood-control improvements necessary to permit the safe construction and maintenance of agricultural levees within the Missouri River flood plane, but until such a comprehensive plan of flood control is undertaken the flood hazards within the area embraced by the membership of this association will continue to increase as uncoordinated plans for levee protection are carried into operation by individual landowners and by organized districts without regard to the effect upon other landowners or other districts. 3. Pick-Sloan plan The associaion and its members believe that the comprehensive plan for flood control within the Missouri River Basin will be obtained under the Pick-Sloan plan. This plan has had widespread support and approval from the people of this area and it is gratifying to them to know that some phases of the plan have already been completed and others are now under construction with the approval of the Congress of the United States. Many other phases of the plan must be authorized and completed before it will be possible to safely undertake the con struction of adequate agricultural levees below Kansas City, Mo. It is, therefore, the desire of every member of this association that there be no delay in approving, authorizing and appropriating the necessary finances for such parts of the Pick-Sloan plan which will make it possible to provide safe levee protection to the agricultural lands along the Missouri River below Kansas City. The members of the association are informed that improvements under the Pick-Sloan plan for the upper Missouri River and its tributaries above Kansas City which have herefore been authorized, constructed or are now being planned for construction, will make it possible to construct and maintain agricultural levees along the Missouri River above Kansas City and that such levees are now being constructed. The members of the association realize that they cannot safely construct and maintain agricultural levee improvements below Kansas City, Mo. until improvements within the Kansas River Basin in the State of Kansas have been authorized and placed under construction which will provide control of flood water run-off within the tributary of the Kansas River and which in turn will provide lower flood heights in the Missouri River below Kansas City. 4. Flood loss in area embraced by association There are approximately 278,000 acres of land within the Missouri flood plane between Kansas City, Mo. and Brunswick, Mo., represented by this association, all of which is subject to flooding by high waters in the Missouri River, Major flood losses were incurred within the area in 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1947. Considerable information on flood losses on the 1947 flood was obtained by this association from its members through questionnaires. From this and other information secured by other agencies such as the Midwest Research Institute, the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, the Red Cross and others, it appears that a conservative summary of losses within the area according to years, is as follows: Total Kansas City to mouth of Grand River___. 5. Levee restoration cost Total 5-year period, 1943-47 $2,085, 700 4,824, 900 6, 262, 500 3, 163, 300 7, 902, 500 3,963,700 28, 202, 600 The floods along the Missouri River below Kansas City which occurred in the years 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, and 1947 caused a tremendous amount of damage to existing levee and drainage improvements. Much of the restoration was done at the expense of the Federal Government but the magnitude of these floods was sufficient to convince the landowners that the improvements which had been constructed for conditions existing prior to 1935 were entirely inadequate to provide against conditions prevailing at the time of the floods-therefore, practically without exception, every levee district within the area embraced by this association has increased its protection by reconstructing the levee improvements from 4 to 6 feet additional height above the original grade and has provided additional width of the levees to withstand the added flood pressures. The total amount of money expended by the Federal Government in repairing flood damage to levees between Kansas City and Brunswick, Mo., during the 7-year period from 1942 to 1948 according to information obtained from records of the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, is as follows: Kansas City to mouth of Grand River Lee Nos. 58A to 80, inclusive. (None in 1949 as of May 10, 1949.) The amount of money expended by the organized levee districts in raising and strengthening their levee improvements has not been finally determined as the work is still under way in many districts. A very conservative estimate of the final value of this work, when completed, is $2,000,000 which amount will be in addition to the value of the original improvements after restoration at the expense of the Federal Government. 6. Original and present value of levee improvements The Corps of Engineers, United States Army, in its Missouri River No. 308 report dated September 30, 1933 in table No. 258, indicated under the "Financial status of organized drainage and levee districts on the main stem of the Missouri River" that from Kansas City, Mo., to the mouth of the Grand River the total construction cost incurred by landowners prior to the date of the 308 report, was $5,608,000. It is generally agreed among the members of this association that the present-day value of levee and drainage improvements as they are now constructed would, be not less than $10,000,000, a large part of which may be expected to be incorporated within the agricultural levees proposed to be constructed under the Pick-Sloan plan. 7. Agricultural production in the Missouri River flood plane from Kansas City, Mo., to the mouth of the Grand River The following data was obtained from field surveys consisting of spot check surveys of about 14 to 15 percent of the total area subject to flooding during the years 1945, 1946, 1947, and 1948. The production values and unit prices varied greatly during these years. The year 1945 was the last year that the agricultural regulations were in effect. During the years 1946 to 1948, inclusive, the law of supply and demand governed production and prices. In general, the weather conditions were about normal in 1946 and 1948 but during 1945 and 1947, heavy spring rains caused some damage to small grain crops and retarded the planting of the corn for about 15 to 30 days-however, the yields were about normal for the entire period. All data on unit prices are taken from the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Columbia, Mo., and these prices are the current market prices prevailing at the time of maturing crops. The annual gross value of agricultural production for the year 1948 is a fair representation of the normal production which may be expected from the area when floods from the Missouri River do not occur. This value is estimated at $23,430,000.00 and is based upon the following distribution of agricultural production: Total area subject to flooding. Total area of cropland__. Timber and waste... Data for 1948 Acres 278, 000 234, 350 43, 650 8. Combined benefits of Kansas River and Missouri River below reservoirs The beneficial effect to accrue from the proposed Perry-Milford and Tuttle Creek Reservoirs on the Kansas River watershed will permit the construction and maintenance of lower and safer levees and other forms of local protection improvements not only along the Kansas River but also along the Missouri River below Kansas City to the mouth of the Grand River at Brunswick, Mo. The effect of these reservoirs will also contribute greatly to reduced flood heights throughout the entire length of the Missouri River below Kansas City. The total area to be inundated by the three reservoirs at full pool level for flood-control purposes has been estimated at 68,500 acres. The area along the Kansas and Missouri Rivers extending from Junction City, Kans., to Brunswick, Mo., where the maximum benefit will accrue from reservoir construction, is as follows: Kansas River: Junction City to Manhattan, Kans. Perry to Kansas City, Mo Other tributaries. Missouri River: Kansas City to Brunswick, Mo.. Total. Acres 20,000 84,000 46,000 30,000 278, 000 458, 000 These areas constitute the most fertile and productive lands to be found anywhere within the States of Kansas or Missouri. However, the benefits derived by these lands are only incidental when the benefits which will result to the cities, towns, industrial plants, railroads, and many other developments which are situated within or adjacent to the area to be protected are considered. The benefits to be derived as a result of the construction of these three reser voirs on the main tributaries of the Kansas River will reach far beyond the limits embraced by this association and the effect from these reservoirs when combined with the effect of other reservoirs on the other tributary streams along the Missouri River, such as the Grand, Osage, and Gasconade Rivers, will provide protection to hundreds of thousands of acres within the Missouri River and Mississippi River flood plane below the mouth of the Grand River at Brunswick, Mo. 9. Summation Summarizing the tabulated data shown above, the 278,000 acres of land within the Missouri River flood plane represented by this association includes 150,000 acres within organized drainage and levee districts which have been diligently attempting to provide protection against overflow in the Missouri River by the construction and maintenance of agricultural levees and that these districts are unable to safely construct and maintain agricultural levees against present flood hazards in the Missouri River unless and until floodwater detention reservoirs are provided on the Kansas River and its tributaries. Any delay in appropriation for these reservoirs not only makes it economically impossible to construct and maintain flood-protection levees of sufficient height within these organized levee districts but it has the same effect on the hundreds of thousands of acres within the flood plane of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers extending from Brunswick, Mo., to the mouth of the Mississippi River at New Orleans, La. |