Issue |
E3S Web Conf.
Volume 7, 2016
3rd European Conference on Flood Risk Management (FLOODrisk 2016)
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 12001 | |
Number of page(s) | 8 | |
Section | Long-term protection and prevention measures | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/20160712001 | |
Published online | 20 October 2016 |
Making room for rivers: quantification of benefits from a flood risk perspective
1 Deltares, PO Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, The Netherlands
2 Delft University of Technology, Department TPM, Jaffalaan 5, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands
a Corresponding author: nathalie.asselman@deltares.nl
Since 1996, the Netherlands has adopted a flood risk management policy based on making more room for the rivers. Currently, the focus in flood risk management is being adapted again, in view of increasing societal vulnerability and foreseeable effects of climate change. In this context, the choice between making more room for the river and/or strengthening embankments is again of major concern. This calls for further quantification of the effectiveness, costs and benefits of all possible measures. Making room for rivers was originally advocated by referring to a reduction of the probability of failure of the embankments and a reduction of the consequences in case of breaching. These arguments still apply, but the effect of making more room for rivers on flood risk has never been properly quantified yet. In this paper we identify three potential risk reducing effects, and quantify their effect for along the Rhine and Meuse Rivers in the Netherlands. We show that lowering the flood levels means smaller flood probabilities, that larger floodplain surface area significantly influences the relationship between discharge and flood level, and that lower flood levels in the river translate into smaller flooding depths and/or flood extent, and thus reduce the consequences of flooding.
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2016
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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