Up and down State Street, on both sides of the bridge, anglers of all ages had their lines in the water. White bass spawning in the Sandusky River were an annual event that drew fishing enthusiasts from near and far.

Then the river flooded. Buildings near its banks had water to the second floor.

As had been done earlier in an upstream community (which contributed to the current downstream flooding), the government "channeled" the river as a flood control measure. Its natural banks were straightened and lined with concrete walls.

For a couple years, the anglers still came. But soon, little bait shops closed their doors. The altered river no longer drew the huge schools of white bass, which had already been blocked from traditional spawning waters due to the Ballville dam.

Today, many communities are debating the cost-benefits of restoring rivers and streams to their natural flow. Costs are steep to remove dams and channels. Benefits include more fish, which draw not only the birds and beasts that eat them - such as bald eagles - but enhanced recreational opportunities for people. People like those long ago anglers who not only bought local bait, but shopped in local stores, stayed in local hotels, bought gas at local gas stations and patronized local restaurants.

According to Virginia State University's Cooperative Extension (www.vt.ext.edu): Stream channeling (stream-straightening) converts a natural winding stream with riffles, pools, shelter, and abundant fish and wildlife, into a straight, featureless drainage ditch. The resulting ditch contains no protective boulders, ledges, spawning gravel, or stream side cover, and few sportfish or wild animals.

The university says channeling consists of using a drag line to straighten, deepen, and clear streambeds. When natural streams are ditched, their bottoms containing eggs and young of sportfish, fish-food insects, in-stream cover, and critical spawning gravel are dredged out and piled high on the banks. Streamside vegetation is crushed by machines or buried under the dredge spoils, leaving bare muddy banks.

As storm waters concentrate in the straight, steep trench, according to the university, they travel at high speed and energy, eroding the banks and stripping off any remaining plant cover. Erosion increases and the waters become too muddy to support life. During dry seasons, channeled streams become mud-choked ditches. They lack the water flow, depth, and oxygen to sustain sportfish. Valuable gamefish are eliminated and replaced by undesirable species such as carp.

Flood protection is the usual reason given for channeling rivers and streams, in the belief that ditching speeds storm waters downstream and prevents overflows, says the university. This is partly true; storm waters do shoot rapidly through a straight channel and are contained by the high banks (levees) of dredge spoils. But, channeling does not prevent floods, it simply moves them downstream, and at such high velocity that flooding is intensified. The solution to flood control problems is to keep the raindrops where they fall.

Floods are born on the land, not in streams, cautions the university, which adds that floods can be controlled by using good watershed management (contour and no till farming, grassed waterways, streambank filter strips and plantings) and protecting natural wetlands. Streamside wetlands (marshes and swamps) have enormous flood control capacity. They serve as natural sponges, temporarily holding and storing flood waters.

Wetlands are a vanishing resource, the university warns. Drained by stream channeling, ditching, and water diversion projects to create farmland, tree farms, and urban developments, few natural wetlands remain. Channeling reduces the amount of stream (often to one half of its original length), lowers the water table, and leaves wetlands high and dry.

The university says, and environmental experts agree, that marshes and swamps, once considered wastelands, are recognized as important for flood control, water conservation, stream and ground water recharge, outdoor recreation, and as prime fish and wildlife habitat. Streams and their associated wetlands are interrelated. Wetlands supply much of the ground water needed to keep streams flowing. Conserving valuable wetlands is essential to the protection of stream water quality.

According to the university, dams, log jams, and other obstructions to flow also destroy streams. Small dams once used to hydropower sawmills and grist mills, and those built today to create farm, recreation, and flood control ponds impede miles of free-flowing streams.

Dams create a variety of problems, the university says. They are costly, short-lived structures easily damaged by floods, winds, and ice. Dams can collapse, threatening downstream life and property. Owners of a dam are responsible for inspecting and maintaining it. They may be held liable for downstream loss of life and property if their dam collapses or malfunctions.

The life expectancy of a dam depends on the amount of upstream erosion, but even those built on streams carrying moderate silt loads eventually silt-in with eroded soil. As silt accumulates in the impounded pools, the water becomes shallow, stagnant, warm, turbid and weed-choked, says the university, pointing out that dams eliminate stream sportfish populations. Stream-dwelling sportfish and the aquatic insects on which they feed require running water. For example, most stream sportfish are gravel-riffle spawners; they deposit their eggs only where the water depth, speed, temperature, clarity, oxygen content, and bottom types are suitable. Dams destroy spawning sites and flowing water conditions essential for stream sportfish. Dams also block the free movement of sportfish to their spawning and nursery grounds. Few small streams have fish ladders (fishways) that provide passage.

Dammed or clogged streams can be restored. Remove old mill-pond dams, log jams, fallen trees, and other impediments to flow. Cut trees that may fall into or across streams, but leave their stumps and roots undisturbed. Use hand labor, chain saws, and winches to avoid killing streambank grasses.

The university discourages the damming of streams to create ponds. Ponds needed for cropland irrigation, livestock watering, sportfishing, swimming, and other uses, can be constructed by digging a basin on the flood plain next to the stream and piping water from the stream, it says.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov) agrees and says such measures are also important for protecting drinking water. Rivers not only are a primary source of treated drinking water for some communities, they are also an important source of "recharge" for aquifers - the underground rivers from which many draw groundwater to supply household needs.