Editor, New Era:
All Marietta residents should attend the borough council meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m., when council members are expected to vote on the proposed borough-levee system. The council chambers are at 113 E. Market St.
About 100 people saw a presentation on this two-mile-long "Marietta Smaller Levee System," given by engineers from the state Department of Environmental Protection in July. The public has had two months for input.
Now there are concerns that council will vote no on the levee.
One excuse is that Marietta residents can't afford the small bond required to maintain the system, even though the levee would be constructed and paid with state and federal funds.
Another excuse is that the Harrisburg engineers have canceled the project, regardless whether Marietta Borough citizens want it or not.
The cost of a bond issue would be more than offset by the savings on the present high cost of flood insurance, with a properly designed levee system, and Marietta residents' lives and properties would be much safer.
Global warming and climate change are serious issues.
At a special meeting in Geneva, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change discussed a July report on the relation of global warming and water levels. The report can be found at www.ipcc.ch.
A nationally recognized insurance company is sending letters to home owners throughout Lancaster County about flood insurance, even though they may not be near any rivers or creeks.
It includes this statement: "Many people assume that their homeowner's or other personal property insurance policy would cover these types of losses when, in fact, a homeowners or other personal-property policy does not cover damage caused by flooding."
Jesse Charles Wagner II
Marietta
