When Humans Fight the Curves

Attempts to control river meanders have a long and mostly unsuccessful history:

• The Mississippi was straightened extensively by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 20th century, cutting off meanders to reduce flooding and shorten navigation routes
• Unintended consequences — straightening increased flow speed, which increased erosion downstream and destroyed wetlands that absorbed floodwater
• Channel restoration — many countries are now deliberately re-meandering straightened rivers because the curves serve critical ecological functions
• Flood management — meanders slow water flow and spread it across floodplains, reducing peak flood levels downstream

Rivers meander because physics demands it.