DAVENPORT, Iowa — The EARTh Center partnered with the Nahant Marsh Education Center in Davenport from June 10-14 to offer a professional developmental event for educators in the Quad Cities region.
The subject of the event was the ecosystem of the Mississippi River. One of the big messages shared during the event is that when it comes to flooding, the marshes along the Mississippi River could be a better alternative to levees and dams, both environmentally and economically.
Most of us are very familiar with flooding, it’s a risk that comes with living so close to the Mississippi River. Brian Ritter, executive director at Nahant Marsh, says that flooding has gotten worse across the country, including up and down the Mississippi River.
Throughout the week, the Nahant Marsh Education Center emphasized the important role marshes play in damage control when flooding happens. Marshes are a natural resource that can help alleviate water from the levees and dams when floods happen. Instead of the water levels going up and downstream, said Ritter, they can go into the basin at the marsh. Forcing the water into a wetland is a lot safer, and more cost effective for the surrounding cities.
“Marshes are a cheaper alternative to levees,” Ritter explained. “Somebody’s gotta build the levee… and it’s us taxpayers that fund those types of projects.”
Ritter urges that restoring and preserving our wetlands here in the Quad Cities can help combat the rise in flooding that we’ve seen over the years.
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