Scappoose Drainage Improvement Company

Portions of the City of Scappoose and rural lands east to the Multnomah Channel are at low elevation.  They are protected from flooding by a levee, drainage ditches, and pumps operated by Scappoose Drainage Improvement Company (“SDIC”).  SDIC is a public corporation funded by assessments paid by landowners within SDIC boundaries and governed by a volunteer board of directors.  SDIC is responsible for drainage and flood control for approximately 5,700 acres.  SDIC participates in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers routine inspection program for the levee, which was built in the 1920s and later raised by the Corps of Engineers with the assistance of federal funding.  Without SDIC’s levee and drainage facilities, much of the housing, commercial uses, farming and recreation within its boundaries would not be possible.

Although SDIC is a public corporation, its facilities – including the levee – are not open to the public.  The nearly eleven miles of levee that protects SDIC lands rests almost entirely on private property.  Similarly, Santosh Slough and the other drainage ditches in SDIC are not open to the public.  The levee, drainage ditches and pumps are critical to the safety and welfare of people and property within SDIC boundaries.  They must be protected from damage.  For this reason, any construction, planting, utility work, alteration, or any kind of encroachment that takes place on or beside the levee is regulated by SDIC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Plans and engineering details must be submitted to SDIC, and permits obtained from SDIC and typically the Corps, before any activity is undertaken.  To locate the boundaries of the protected area, please contact SDIC.

SDIC board meetings are open to the public.  Meeting dates and times generally are posted in the legal notices section of the Columbia County Spotlight.  Information about how levees work is available in the publication “So, You Live Behind a Levee!” produced by the American Society of Civil Engineers. A free copy can be downloaded here. 

Scappoose Drainage Improvement Company
53466 E. Honeyman Rd.
Scappoose, Oregon 97056
(503) 543-2064 

https://www.scappoosedrainage.org