People with water in their basement are blaming the city, the developer, the builder, even the real estate agent for their lack of common sense.  You saw the river there when you bought the place!  A guy that I used to work with spent many years at Geneva steel.  When people would complain about the polution, or the noise, or the appearance, he would say to them "there is no way you didn't see that thing when you moved here.  It's been there longer that any of us, so you can't say they built it while you weren't looking."  I do feel bad for those with flooded basements that live next to the river, or people who buy houses on the hill, with a mudslide pushing their house off the foundation.  I would hate that to happen to my house.  But come on, you saw the river, you saw the hill rising right up behind your house, yes, the view is great, but that hill might slide, catch on fire, or spew forth rocks at one time or another.  That's just part of the package.  Building these huge homes in the river bottoms is another thing that amazes me.  IT'S CALLED THE RIVER BOTTOMS FOR A REASON!  I hope that when it floods, the government doesn't rush right in with our money and pay to re-build these places.