Hello:  (Sent April 15, 2012)   I found this comforting verse at Psalm 131:1,2:   " 1  My heart is not proud, LORD,     my eyes are not haughty;  I do not concern myself with great matters     or things too wonderful for me.  2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,     I am like a weaned child with its mother;     like a weaned child I am content ."     Hello: (Sent April 13, 2012)   Re: New Idea: Use Concrete Spillways to Divert Mississippi River Flood Water from Cities and Towns   As we near May, 2012 there remains the threat of flooding from the Mississippi River, just as it flooded last May, 2011. One way to protect from flood waters is to divert flood waters into a made made river bed.   I briefly researched the control of flood waters along the Mississippi and, other than unreliable levies and temporary sand bagging, the Cities and Towns along the Mississippi have no way to control flood waters once the Mississippi River a particular City or Town, especially as the River winds down into the Gulf of Mexico.   There is a way to protect cities and towns along the Mississippi from flooding, and that is to quickly construct a dirt, or more reliable concrete river bed or spillway. What do I mean by 'spillway'. It is a permanent manmade concrete river bed or temporary spillway dug 10 to 25 feet into the ground.     As the River rises it will 'spill over' into the diverted spillway at a designated point upstream. For example, as the Mississippi winds into a City or Town, create a fork in the River by diverting the overflow into a concrete or dirt spillway, that is to run parallel to the River upstream from the moment the River enters the City until it leaves the City or Town downstream. When the River leaves the City downstream, the diverted water in the concrete or dirt spillway will be diverted back into the main Mississippi River downstream.   If there is too much water upstream, some of the water could be permanently diverted through the spillway into upstream reservoirs for use in summer irrigation. This will prevent flooding downstream.   The Mississippi River carries too much silt to the Gulf of Mexico. The manmade concrete spillways could be built with ridges on the bottom that trap silt. As the spillways empty, the silt could be scraped from the concrete river bed and redistributed upstream.     I hope this idea helps prevent flooding in the Cities and Towns located along the Mississippi River.   regards,   Tanja Jensen N. Vancouver, BC Canada