Trends in a national policy of stream‐management

Abstract

Quite aside from the distinction of this program as attested by the scientific character of the papers and the eminence of the speakers who are to follow me, it seems clear that your Reporter is determined to make this occasion unique in yet another way. I refer to his originality in proposing that a Symposium on Floods should be inaugurated by a paper dealing with the general subject of stream‐management. From time to time there have appeared in the engineering literature of this country, and I dare say in that of other countries also, reports of symposia on various aspects of water‐control and use, such as floods, droughts, pollution, power, navigation, etc. That these important subjects are inextricably related hydrologically, economically, and socially must be apparent, but in technical discussions such considerations have heretofore been conspicuous by their absence or by the cursory attention accorded them. Man does not live to himself alone, neither does the hydrologic cycle revolve only'around flood‐phenomena. It is gratifying to realize that in your deliberations upon various scientific aspects of floods and flood‐control, you propose to retain a broad perspective with relation to other factors affecting the use and regulation of water.