The political economy of flood management reform in China

Abstract

This article examines the political economy factors that are likely to shape China’s attempts to reform its approach to managing floods, particularly by implementing integrated flood risk management (IFRM). IFRM emphasizes the use of structural and non-structural measures to reduce flood risk, rather than simply seeking to control flooding. For China, reducing flood risk is increasingly important in light of urbanization and climate change. However, a number of political economy issues, especially the division of power between central and local levels of government, create considerable challenges for flood management reform. This article examines China’s approach to implementing IFRM in light of existing political economy constraints and the institutional framework for flood management. It argues that effective flood management reform requires addressing common challenges, including interjurisdictional and intersectoral coordination and stakeholder participation.     

The political construction and fixing of water overabundance: rural–urban flood-risk politics in coastal Ecuador

ABSTRACT

Ecuador’s mega-dam project aims to control Chone city’s flooding hazards, but it submerges peasants’ territories – legitimized by ‘modern city/majority benefit’ versus ‘rural backward/sacrifice-able minority’ discourse. Presented as disordered, unruly and needing domestication, peasants must follow urban imaginaries and safeguard modern-urban progress. Policy-makers’ water overabundance discourse presents ‘flood risk’ as a natural and techno-managerial problem, hiding how unequal power balances establish ‘high-value’ (urban/elite) areas as protection zones and rural areas as sacrifice zones. Excessive water is stored in rural areas, neglecting peasants’ livelihoods and governance forms. The paper’s political ecology approach displays the ‘water overabundance’ discourse as a techno-political, naturalized construct that profoundly impacts rural–urban hydro-territoriality.     

行业协会在清水河梯级水电站运行协作中的作用分析

行业协会在流域梯级水电站运行管理中的协调作用促进了电站之间的协作,提高了整体效益,保证了防洪安全。分析了梯级水电站防洪、运行协作的必要性,并以滑水河为例,论述了行业协会的协调成果及作用。     

Smooth flows? Hydrosocial communities,water governance and infrastructural discord in Peru’s southern highlands

ABSTRACT

The article examines how the design and governance of Peru’s water infrastructure shape the social practices and cultural values stakeholders engage in and draw on when negotiating water rights in a year of drought. Reviewing ethnographic data on a large irrigation project in south-western Peru, we discuss how the project both perpetuates power relations between water experts, authorities and users and creates room to challenge its hierarchical organization. The project’s infrastructural assemblage of state and community canals offers an interesting case to explore how the stakeholder cooperation encouraged by Peru’s water law produces hydrosocial communities.     

Hong Kong’s water security: a governance perspective

ABSTRACT

Traditional concerns regarding Hong Kong’s water security have centred on water quantity, quality and pricing. In contrast, this article embraces an integrative conceptualization of water security from a governance perspective. A technocratic and supply-oriented water system may overlook challenges stemming from scalar mismatches at the territorial, institutional and discursive levels, as well as at the science–policy interface. Resilience thinking could identify new areas of concern and provide contextually sensitive insights into Hong Kong’s water security, which will be subject to the restructuring of the water governance system, which concerns changing discourses, power relations and institutional mechanisms.     

Using water management infrastructure to address both flood risk and the urban heat island

Abstract

Two important environmental challenges for many cities are to prevent flooding after heavy rain, and to minimize warming due to the urban heat island effect. There is a close link between these two phenomena, as rainfall intensity increases with rising air temperature. The two problems of flood management and urban warming therefore need to be tackled together. In particular, management strategies that contribute to reducing urban temperatures should be recognized as a means of reducing flood risk, especially in regions prone to intense rainfall.     

Devolving water governance in the Kenyan Arid Lands: from top-down drought and flood emergency response to locally driven water resource development planning

Abstract

The Kenyan Constitution calls for a devolved response to the stewardship of water and other natural resources. A case study based on planners’ experiences illustrates the shift towards a governance approach that is inclusive, integrates available technologies to achieve resilience to both flood and drought, and works across scales from the settlement to the catchment. Devolution is a slow process, and the challenges are many. Recent observations show that increasing local agency in water resource development is helping alleviate drought and flood emergencies. Nevertheless, more concerted action is still needed from the centre.     

Development of Flood Hazards Policy in the Indus River Basin of Pakistan, 1947–1996

ABSTRACT

Since independence in 1947, floods in the Indus River Basin in Pakistan have claimed more than 7,000 lives and caused massive infrastructure and crop losses. To date, flood damage reduction has received limited attention relative to the irrigation and hydropower subsectors in the basin. Nonstructural approaches to flood hazard mitigation have lagged behind engineering approaches. This article retraces the development offlood policies in Pakistan, from an early situation of risk acceptance to more recent strategies of risk management. It shows that an underlying problem, and future aim, for flood policy will lie in giving greater attention to mitigating social vulnerability to flood hazards in the basin.     

溪洛渡-向家坝-三峡梯级水库联合蓄水方案与多目标决策研究

为协调好梯级水库联合蓄水调度过程中防洪、发电、蓄水和航运等目标之间的矛盾,实现各水库蓄水时机与蓄水进程的协同优化,以溪洛渡-向家坝-三峡梯级水库为例,推求了可权衡防洪与兴利之间矛盾的梯级水库联合蓄水方案,主要研究内容主要包括以下3个部分:(1)风险分析,推求了汛末各分期内坝前最高安全水位约束和联合蓄水方案的防洪风险;(2)兴利效益分析,分析了联合蓄水方案的发电和蓄水等兴利效益;(3)多目标决策,评价了联合蓄水方案的防洪风险、发电和蓄水效益,得出了最优非劣质蓄水方案。研究结果表明:溪洛渡-向家坝-三峡梯级水库的较优联合蓄水方案,分别为9月5日起蓄的同步起蓄方案和9月1日-9月5日-9月10日起蓄的异步起蓄方案,较原设计蓄水方案,年均发电量可分别增加23.76和20.43亿k W·h,增幅分别为3.25%和2.78%;蓄水率可由96.73%分别提高至97.51%和97.57%,两者均可在不降低原防洪标准的前提下,提高梯级水库的综合效益,前者的发电效益较优,而后者的蓄水效益较优。     

Nonlinear Reservoir Analysis with Risk-Benefit Objectives

ABSTRACT

The surrogate worth trade-off method has been extended to a quadratic programming optimization model and risk has been incorporated into the vector of objective functions which explicitly shows the decision maker the trade-offs between net benefits and increased reliability of the system or the trade-offs between competing reliabilities such as flood control and water supply. The approach is called the Nonlinear Risk-Benefit (NRB) Algorithm. The NRB Algorithm is applied to the Broken Bow Reservoir to illustrate the increased information made available by this approach.     

Sediment Load during Flood Events for Illinois Streams

ABSTRACT

A large percentage of the annual sediment yield from a watershed is transported by a stream during a small number of floods that occur in a relatively short period of time in a year The sediment load during flood events is examined and relations between the annual sediment yield and the sediment load during the major floods in a given year are developed based on available stream sediment data from the state of Illinois. On the average, the annual flood transports from 20 per cent (for large rivers) to 23 per cent (for small streams) of the annual sediment load, while the two highest floods in a year transport from 32 to 43 per cent of the annual sediment load. The average duration of the annual flood is only 9.2 days, which is 2.5 per cent of the whole year The average duration of the two highest floods is 17 days, which represents only 4.7 per cent of time in a year     

A Needed Economic Framework for Flood Plain Management

ABSTRACT

This paper sets forth a desired economic framework for flood plain management. After expressing serious concern that efficient flood hazard mitigation may not be desired as a goal of public policy, six major management issues are outlined. First is the task of reformulation of the problem of flood hazard mitigation from an emphasis on hazard reduction per se to one of an efficient use of flood-prone lands and development of socially acceptable levels of residual risk. Second, there is need to specify more clearly what is the economic rationale for public action (particularly in a national system) in flood hazard mitigation in relation to the role of markets and private choice. Third, analysis is needed to specify in theoretical and in operational terms the efficient level of mitigation. Fourth, the question of what constitutes a proper measure of loss is of Critical importance. Fifth, economic evaluation of existing institutions and policies in the flood hazard field is clearly needed. Finally, benefit-cost studies of selected mitigation measures are proposed. An overlying concern throughout the paper is that present institutional arrangements may act as barriers to efficient policy and obscure the rationale for other kinds of economic analysis.     

Emerging citizen contributions,roles and interactions with public authorities in Dutch pluvial flood risk management

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the emerging role of citizens and their increasing contributions to local pluvial flood risk management in the Netherlands. A qualitative research approach is followed with semi-structured interviews, and analysis of policy documents and media reports. A typology of physical resources and actions, knowledge and advocacy activities shows evidence of locally focused citizen contributions to pluvial flood risk management in the Dutch city of Arnhem. We find that this emerging citizen role is being shaped by traditional authority-led interactions, creative and dialogical approaches to citizen engagement, and citizen-initiated contributions that then interact with authorities.     

A Versatile Flood Frequency Methodology

ABSTRACT

Many observed annual flood series exhibit reverse curvatures when plotted on lognormal probability paper. The occurrence of these curvatures may be attributed to seasonal variation in flood-producing storm types, relative dominance of within-the-channel or floodplain flow, and variability in antecedent soil moisture and cover conditions. A mixed distribution model is needed to analyze such flood series because of the mixed population of floods. A versatile flood frequency methodology has been developed which considers the probability distribution of an observed flood series as a mixture of the probabilities of two lognormal distributions. Objective detection and modification of any outliers and inliers in an observed flood series in as integral part of the versatile flood frequency methodology. Analyses of about 600 flood series in the USA and other countries in the world show the versatility and superiority of the proposed methodology for satisfactory estimation of design floods for various recurrence intervals.     

洪涝灾害三参数损失函数的构建Ⅰ——基本原理

为把握快速城镇化、社会经济增长、防洪工程标准提高背景下暴雨洪涝灾害风险的演变趋势,基于洪水风险理论及城市洪涝灾害的连锁性与损失突变性特征,探讨了洪涝灾害风险演变驱动机制,构建了具有物理意义的三参数洪涝灾害损失-重现期(D-R)风险函数,明确了曲线形态中临界洪灾损失值Dc、临界重现期Rc、区域脆弱性综合指数k等控制参数的物理意义。该函数可作为洪涝灾害风险评估与预测的一种便捷手段,找到洪涝灾害风险演化的转折点,可为防灾减灾决策提供依据,同时也可应用于对防洪工程体系减灾效益的评估。     

Analysis of changes in flood regime using a distributed hydrological model: a case study in the Second Songhua River basin,China

Abstract

This study proposes and tests a new approach to detect and analyze changes in flood regime using a distributed hydrological model (EasyDHM), using the Second Songhua River basin, China, as a case study. Model calibration and parameter sensitivity were used to represent flood regimes in a 60-year series (1954–2013), with three different flood regime periods identified. The changes in flood regime were estimated by model parameters, flood result residuals and the overall process in the hydrological model in the three periods. The results show that human activities significantly impacted flood regimes, with significant flood regime change largely attributed to increases in water storage in multiple small reservoirs. Flood volume was reduced significantly between the periods in all three watersheds. The parameters also changed in variety between the periods. The study highlights the importance of incorporating data on small-reservoir constructions in flood control systems.     

Assessing the legitimacy of flood risk governance arrangements in Europe: insights from intra-country evaluations

Legitimacy has received comparatively less attention than societal resilience in the context of flooding, thus methods for assessing and monitoring the legitimacy of flood risk governance arrangements are noticeably lacking. This study attempts to address this gap by assessing the legitimacy of flood risk governance arrangements in six European countries through cross-disciplinary and comparative research methods. On the basis of this assessment, recommendations to enhance the legitimacy of flood risk governance in Europe are presented.     

丹江口水利枢纽综合调度研究

丹江口水利枢纽综合调度是保障南水北调中线工程安全运行、实现汉江流域水资源优化配置的关键所在,而如何统筹兼顾防洪与兴利开发任务、协调不同用水部门间竞争性的用水关系以及实现水库综合效益的最大化,又是丹江口水利枢纽综合调度的关键。以南水北调中线一期工程通水后丹江口水利枢纽运行调度为研究对象,依托南水北调工程规划及丹江口水利枢纽大坝加高设计并结合最新工程运行边界条件,分别开展了防洪、供水、发电等调度问题的深化研究;在此基础上,采用多属性决策方法构建了多目标调度决策模型,提出了丹江口水利枢纽综合调度方式。综合效益分析结果表明：提出的综合调度方式能在保障防洪安全的情况下充分发挥水资源综合效益,可为丹江口水利枢纽后期规模正常运行提供技术支撑。     

Collective Capacity: Regional Information Sharing in Support of Floodplain Management

Abstract

An approach for assessing regional receptivity to flood risk reduction is presented, taking into account institutional, cultural, and technical capacities. Since floodplain boundaries often cross multiple jurisdictions it is important to view the management of flood hazards within a regional context. In order to be effective, mitigation strategies should include some measure of the social system itself. This is necessary to ensure that the proper measures are being applied to the proper community. Attempts to evaluate regional receptivity based on resident floodplain management practices are therefore provided, with emphasis placed on non-structural approaches to hazards mitigation. The Red River of the North, which straddles the US/Canadian border, was chosen as the study area of choice owed largely to its repeated history of extreme flood events in combination with a relatively advanced means of coping with them. In order to construct the risk reduction evaluation templates presented, cross-border communications patterns were assessed, expressed user needs for region-wide information sharing were consolidated, and potentially transferable functional areas were isolated. The results suggest a risk-sharing framework that is suited for performing inter-basin comparisons.     

允许风险分析方法在防洪安全决策中的应用

允许风险分析方法体现了“以人为本”的防洪理念。按照防洪工程漫顶失事的逻辑过程提出了防洪风险率的定量计算方法，引入了人员伤亡预测的经验公式，讨论了制定允许风险标准问题。在此基础上，应用允许风险分析方法，定量计算骆马湖的防洪风险，对骆马湖防洪安全决策进行了评价，分析了建立洪水预警系统提高防洪安全的必要性和可行性。