As much as I welcome the arrival of spring, getting rid of all the snow that fell this winter is a dreary prospect. Last night’s heavy rain and high temperatures did much of the job, but the sight of several inches of water flowing through the backyard is annoying. It never used to be this bad: someone “upstream” changed the topography of the land and now everyone’s runoff flows through each successive yard. But however muddy it gets, it doesn’t come close to the hardship faced by those closer to rivers and streams that are now dangerously close to overflowing.