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The reasons, according to MID, for the canal failure in the Franklin-Beachwood area are long. In reality, the flooding was the latest in a long history of poor engineering of Merced County waterways. Black Rascal Creek in Merced is merely a ditch, thanks to MID canals on both the eastern and western borders of town. Thanks to poor planning by MID and lack of resource management by Merced County, most county creeks have suffered similar fates.
Rather than using each flooding event as a reason for another complicated (and expensive) new dam project, perhaps supporting and restoring our natural system of waterways to the San Joaquin River could be considered.
After all, you don't need an engineering degree to know that if you have wide and unrestricted drains (creeks), water will be less likely to take unexpected shortcuts to the river.
