A public forum was held Saturday to update the flood risk along the Papillion Creek, which could affect homes and businesses in Douglas and Sarpy counties.

It covers about 400 square miles and includes one-third of Nebraska's population. The Papillion Creek watershed includes parts of Douglas, Sarpy and Washington counties.

Tributaries of the Papio Creek start north and west before joining together to run through Douglas and Sarpy counties. For decades, flooding has been a major concern along the Papillion Creek watershed.

"We've been quite fortunate over the years that we haven't had a 100-year event," says the Natural Resource District’s John Winkler. To reduce the threat, a series of dam sites were built along the creek, but not every point along the creek is addressed.

At Tahazouka Park in Elkhorn, the land has been left unchanged. There is ongoing concern of flooding. The question now is what to do about it?

The public forum discussed how to effectively manage water flow. The Papio-Missouri Natural Resource District says there is no comprehensive plan in place, but the NRD is leaning toward a combination of additional dam sites and low impact development such as parks.

"We don't have a specific number of this, how many reservoirs and this level of LID, but we're getting to that point," says Winkler.

Who pays for it and who benefits? Shawn Melatz says the partnership between the NRD and developers squeezes out the taxpayer. “Stop building in the flood plain, stop building up in the flood plain, so if you no longer have houses in these areas, you won’t have the threat of flooding to these people."

The NRD says that's changing. "Any of these structures from now on will have public access and shore access all the way around," says Winkler. "You will not see houses built right up to the edge of the shore line."

Pamela Dayley is angry that the NRD uses tax dollars to get the results they want. "It's like a pharmaceutical company that pays a physician to come up with the outcome they want and everyone is very skeptical of that kind of research. The difference here is pharmaceutical companies use their own money to pay for that research, here the NRD is using taxpayer money."

"You either build these all on the public dollar and we can only take what land we need for the project, the developer will buy the land around the reservoir anyway and put up houses, or we can make them foot some of the bill,” says Winkler.

Others say flooding along the Papio is greatly exaggerated. Winkler says better safe than sorry. "I don't want to be sitting in a room full of people that I told, yeah, our structures are adequate and we do get that event and they’re flooded and they've lost lives and they've lost property and they look at me and say you knew this."

The NRD says each city along the Papio, including ones in Douglas and Sarpy counties must have a storm water management plan in place by 2009 to meet EPA requirements.