To the editor:

Among several good reasons for rejecting the proposal for retail development at Iowa Street and the South Lawrence Trafficway cited by Candice Davis (Journal-World, July 28), one is undeniable: It would be in the Wakarusa floodplain.

The Wakarusa floodplain has an unusually high potential for a catastrophic flood because of the Clinton Dam. The 1993 flood very nearly undercut both the Tuttle Creek and Milford reservoirs as water poured over the emergency spillways. It was not the Corps of Engineers’ concrete aprons that saved them; those were largely destroyed by erosion. Rather, a series of resistant limestone beds, exposed by the erosion, preserved the dams, and thus Manhattan and Junction City, from disaster. 

Clinton Dam’s spillway is floored entirely by mudstone; there are no limestone beds to check erosion and prevent the draining of the reservoir. The 1993 flood did not impact the southern tributaries of the Kansas River because the spawning thunderstorms were confined to northern Kansas and Nebraska. Next time, the Wakarusa River and Clinton Dam might not be so lucky.

If Lawrence must have a shopping mall, it should be somewhere other than the Wakarusa floodplain. Perhaps North Topeka?