Studies in the Area of Global Change Reported from V. Tsimopoulou and Co-Researchers (Economic optimization of flood prevention systems in the…

Studies in the Area of Global Change Reported from V. Tsimopoulou and Co-Researchers (Economic optimization of flood prevention systems in the Netherlands)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation -- Investigators discuss new findings in Global Change. According to news reporting out of Lelystad, Netherlands, by VerticalNews editors, research stated, "After the flood disaster of 1953, the Netherlands adopted a rational approach to flood risk management with the use of protection standards determined by means of cost-benefit analysis. Due to scientific and political developments that have recently taken place, an update of the Dutch protection standards is being undertaken."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research, "One of the major priorities considered, is the need to address three issues, namely: (1) expressing the protection standards as failure probabilities of the flood defences, i.e. probabilities of breaching, instead of exceedance frequencies of water levels that is currently the case, (2) taking into account a spatial variability of those failure probabilities, and (3) considering various flooding scenarios. These aspects have been comprehensively addressed within a national flood risk analysis project, and partly considered in a numerical cost-benefit analysis approach, developed for the determination of new protection standards in the Netherlands. This paper presents an analytical economic optimization approach that makes an explicit link with all results of the national flood risk analysis project. In particular, an approach is outlined for the approximation of economically optimal design values of the failure probabilities along dyke-ring segments, which are treated as a series system of flood defences."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "The approach can assist in the determination of new protection standards in the Netherlands, but also in the design of flood prevention systems elsewhere."

For more information on this research see: Economic optimization of flood prevention systems in the Netherlands. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2015;20(6):891-912. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change can be contacted at: Springer, Van Godewijckstraat 30, 3311 Gz Dordrecht, Netherlands. (Springer - www.springer.com; Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - www.springerlink.com/content/1381-2386/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting V. Tsimopoulou, HKV Consultants, Lelystad, Netherlands. Additional authors for this research include M. Kok and J.K. Vrijling.

Keywords for this news article include: Europe, Lelystad, Netherlands, Global Change

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