3848

JOINT RESOLUTIONS

No. 35
(House Joint Resolution 76)

A House Joint Resolution concerning

Flood Control

FOR the purpose of authorizing the Department of Natural
Resources and the Department of State Planning to
conduct a study and prepare a report for the General
Assembly concerning flood control and flood plain
management programs effective in the State of
Maryland.

WHEREAS, The State of Maryland and its local
subdivisions have spent, and will continue to spend,
millions of dollars to maintain and improve the quality
of the waters of the State; and to develop innovative
programs to control accelerated erosion and
sedimentation;

WHEREAS, Maximum public benefit to the citizens of
the State of Maryland cannot be realized from a water
quality program unless complementary steps are taken to
control the patterns of runoff and stream flows;

WHEREAS, The policy criteria adopted by federal,
State and local governments for flood control and flood
plain management appear to lack consistency, and possibly
are at conflict, and the flood control and flood plain
management programs of federal, State and local
government appear to lack sufficient coordination to
insure avoidance of unnecessary duplication, and to
adequately protect the streams and flood plains of the
State; and

WHEREAS, An inadequate flood control and flood plain
management program will result in increased capital
expenditures by governments, loss of property, human
suffering, and degradation of the value of the streams,
rivers, bays, and estuaries of the State as aquatic
habitat, and degradation of the recreational and
aesthetic values of many of the water bodies of the
State; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That
the Department of Natural Resources in coordination with
the Department of State Planning shall study and evaluate
the flood control and flood plain management programs of
the relevant federal agencies and the local subdivisions
of the State of Maryland and report to the General
Assembly by October 1, 1975; and be it further