Water Management in Mediterranean Climates: Past and Future Adaptation

 

Despite massive investments in flood control structures in the 20th Century, recent catastrophic floods have challenged existing policies and management practices. Floodplain communities have discovered that their residual risk has increased, that their aging conventional infrastructure is no longer sustainable, and they are not resilient to flood losses.  In the US, the ‘Unified National Program for Managing Flood Losses’ (1966) has not led to enduring solutions.  At the national and international levels, the US and the EU have moved from flood control and flood damage reduction paradigms to flood risk management, with new appreciation for the ecological benefits of floods and the challenges with existing technologies.  

 

This workshop explores the range of tools available for managing floodplains, ranging from geomorphic risk-informed land-use policies and setting aside flood bypasses, to structural approaches such as construction of dams and levees.  We propose a framework for ‘wise use’ of floodplains, focusing both on large river floodplains (drawing examples from the Sacramento, Mississippi, Missouri river valleys), as well as constrained urban river floodplains.  For both settings, we consider flood risk management (including residual risk), the historical roots of floodplain management approaches (drawing largely on past experience in these two hotspots), current policies, and proposed reforms.  Through comparative analysis of historical and current approaches in the US and the EU, the workshop examines implications of the recent EU Flood Directive and proposals now in Congress to reform US floodplain policy.