Bokhove, O, Kelmanson, MA orcid.org/0000-0001-9676-052X, Kent, T et al. (2 more authors) (2020) A Cost-Effectiveness Protocol for Flood-Mitigation Plans Based on Leeds’ Boxing Day 2015 Floods. Water, 12 (3). 652. ISSN 2073-4441
Abstract
Inspired by the Boxing Day 2015 flood of the River Aire in Leeds, UK, and subsequent attempts to mitigate adverse consequences of flooding, the goals considered are: (i) to revisit the concept of flood-excess volume (FEV) as a complementary diagnostic for classifying flood events; (ii) to establish a new roadmap/protocol for assessing flood-mitigation schemes using FEV; and, (iii) to provide a clear, graphical cost-effectiveness analysis of flood mitigation, exemplified for a hypothetical scheme partially based on actual plans. We revisit the FEV concept and present it as a three-panel graph using thresholds and errors. By re-expressing FEV as a 2m -deep square lake of equivalent capacity, one can visualise its dimensions in comparison with the river valley considered. Cost-effectiveness of flood-mitigation measures is expressed within the FEV square-lake; different scenarios of our hypothetical flood-mitigation scheme are then presented and assessed graphically, with each scenario involving a combination, near and further upstream of Leeds, of higher (than existing) flood-defence walls, enhanced flood-plain storage sites, giving-room-to-the-river bed-widening and natural flood management. Our cost-effectiveness analysis is intended as a protocol to compare and choose between flood-mitigation scenarios in a quantifiable and visual manner, thereby offering better prospects of being understood by a wide audience, including citizens and city-council planners. Using techniques of data analysis combined with general river hydraulics, common-sense and upper-bound estimation, we offer an accessible check of flood-mitigation plans.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | flood-mitigation assessment; cost-effectiveness analysis; holistic decision-making; flood-excess volume; citizen science |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mathematics (Leeds) > Applied Mathematics (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 24 Feb 2020 10:13 |
Last Modified: | 29 Apr 2020 14:29 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/w12030652 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:157515 |