The purpose of this practicum is about developing a resource for future riverfront development through the integration of ecological erosion control techniques, flood design strategies and insightful planning principles. With a new outlook on protection solutions and design opportunities for riverfront spaces, the Red River will return as the ecological spine of Winnipeg, ensuring the health and longevity of our future River City.

The purpose of this thesis was to develop a methodology that could be used by local communities to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of their floodplain management programs. The methodology (i.e.: model) was designed to be usable by communities without requiring computer capability. The model looks at cost-effectiveness in terms of minimizing the average annual flood damages and the costs of programs implemented by the community to reduce flood damages. The Cities of Decatur, Elkhart, and Kokomo were selected to field test the model to illustrate current conditions in these communities. The City of Decatur was used as an example to show how alternative program scenarios could be developed, incorporated into the model, and used to determine the most cost-effective combination of average annual damages and program costs. The model was run to illustrate its method of operation and not to determine the cost-effectiveness of the floodplain management programs in the Cities of Decatur, Elkhart, and Kokomo. / Department of Urban Planning

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of flood control reservoir construction on public school enrollments, assessed valuation, leisure time activities, and residential housing and business enterprises. Flood control reservoirs studied in Indiana included Cagles Mill, Mansfield, Monroe, Salamonie, Mississinewa, and Huntington. Construction was completed on all six reservoirs during the years between 1952 and 1968.Local school enrollments were compared with the total state public school enrollment to determine if differences existed in yearly enrollment trends.The assessed valuation of townships affected by a flood control reservoir was compared with the total county assessed valuation to determine if differences existed in yearly trends.The data for attendance at state recreational areas were used to show yearly trends from the time of reservoir completion to 1969.Interviews with residents of the reservoir community were used to gather information regarding the physical changes which had taken place in the community since reservoir construction began. These physical changes include leisure time facilities, residential housing, and business enterprises.The major findings from this study were:1. Public school records in corporations affected by a flood control reservoir revealed changes in enrollment, but these changes did not indicate unusual patterns when compared to yearly public school enrollment figures of the total state.2. School districts located in the immediate flood control area involved did not appear to be abnormally affected because of changes in student population.3. Every township affected by reservoir construction decreased in total assessed valuation at the beginning of the project. The loss was reflected in either a reduction of the townships total assessed valuation or a lower rate of increase compared to the total county valuation.4. Where reservoirs have been completed three or more years, the townships involved reflect a higher assessed valuation than they did before construction.5. Surrounding property values in all reservoir areas were higher when reservoir construction was completed than they were before construction.6. More people are making use of all types of recreational facilities located at reservoirs. Camping in tents and trailers has increased more than any of the other leisure time activities investigated.7. Major new business consisted of marinas, combination grocery and bait stores, and private campgrounds.8. Business establishments throughout the state are being influenced by campers and fishermen because of the need for supplies when using the reservoir facilities. The lack of business in the immediate reservoir community and the convenience when boating, fishing, or camping to stock up on supplies were reasons for the influence throughout the state.Major conclusions included:1.If more permanent residents do not move into the reservoir communities, public school pupil population trends will not be altered, and school corporations will not be adversely affected by a reservoir being constructed in their school district.Unless permanent residents move into the reservoir communities and increase public school pupil.Population, the tax rates are very likely to decrease because of the increasing value of land around the reservoir. Property values around a flood control reservoir tend to increase during the time between the beginning of construction and two years after completion of the reservoir, because of its potential use by people for recreation and business.Unless adequate lodging facilities and restaurants are provided in the reservoir communities the areas will remain campgrounds for tents and trailers, or a one day outing facility.The Indiana flood control reservoirs will supplement and influence businesses in Indiana and adjoining states.Systematic community planning by interested local leaders should help to provide for the orderly residential and business development of the reservoir community.

Climatic variability and change can have profound impacts on human societies and wildlife habitats. Extreme events and natural hazards such as floods, droughts, and windstorms, can lead to loss of lives, economic damages, and disruption in livelihoods, infrastructure, and ecosystems. These impacts depend on the intensity and the magnitude of the hazard and the characteristics of the society hit by the disaster. Investigating and predicting adverse effects of frequent climatic hazards are essential for policy makers and resource managers to plan for the future and be prepared for the consequences of these types of natural disasters. Vulnerability assessments provide a framework to detect the potential threats by exploring the nature of the hazard as well as the political, economic, and social conditions that are expected to affect the capacity of communities to cope with or adapt to that hazard. This research involves the development of a framework for vulnerability assessment of flood and drought at the river basin, sub-catchment, and community scale. The vulnerability assessment method is composed of three major components of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. Several indicators are identified to represent these major components of the vulnerability structure. The developed vulnerability assessment has then been implemented on the Upper Ottawa River Basin, Canada. A Geographic Information System-based methodology is used to manage a wide variety of data, to aggregate and integrate several indicators including socio-economic and biophysical indicators, and to visualize the final vulnerability map. The studied areas are categorized in three levels of the vulnerability, high, moderate, and low. North Bay is identified as highly vulnerable to both flood and drought risk. Noranda is also classified as a highly flood-vulnerable area. The vulnerability assessment will provide a valuable insight for mitigation planning as well as prioritizing resource allocation for decision makers. In this research, the location and adequacy of the hydrometric monitoring stations in the Upper Ottawa River Basin are evaluated using the vulnerability map for optimum design of monitoring network.

During the first half of the nineteenth century (particularly 1820-1845) in Britain a number of laymen and clergymen tenaciously fought against new geological theories. These men became known as the "Scriptural geologists." They held the traditional Christian view that Genesis provided a realiable, historical account of the creation of the universe and the early history of the earth. In particular, they believed that the Noachian deluge was a unique global catastrophe, which produced most of the geological record, and that the earth was roughly 6,000 years old. From this position they responded with equal vigour to the old-earth theories of the uniformitarian and the catastrophist geologists. They also rejected, as misinterpretations of Scripture, the "gap theory", the "day-age theory", the "tranquil flood theory" and the "local flood theory." These writers have received limited scholarly analysis. Gillispie, Millhauser and Yule have given them some attention and are the historians regularly cited by others. Much current research addresses the issue of religion and science in the nineteenth century but none has focused on the Scriptural geologists. They deserve more study because they were "an important irritant and a serious disturbing factor in the scientific geologists' campaign to establish and maintain their own public image as a source of reliable and authoritative knowledge" (Martin Rudwick, 'The Greate Devonian Controversy', 1985, p.43). Also, this thesis demonstrates that they have been seriously misrepresented both by many of the contemporaries and by nearly all later hisotrians. By way of introduction, a brief analysis is given of 1) the intellectual, religious and cultural background leading up the nineteenth century, 2) the history of the interpretation of fossils, sedimentary rocks, and the Genesis account of creation and the flood, 3) a description of the nineteenth century milieu and 4) what constituted geological competence in the early nineteenth century. The central portion of the thesis analyzes the Biblical and geological arguments presented by thirteen representative Scriptural geologists. In the final section, generalizations and conclusions are made about the Scriptural geologists as a group and the nature of the debate with those they opposed.

Storm water management has become a more important matter as urban areas are expanding and natural areas are being exploited. As nature landscapes are being converted into hard surface areas storm water flow is affected both in terms of velocity and size. A flow increase can easily result in a flooding if the dimensions of the pipeline system are inadequate. Considering predicted upcoming climate changes, flooding’s may become more common in urban areas in the future. A storm water model can be used to investigate the flooding risk in an area. A model, however, is always a simplification of reality. The models ability to describe a real system is determined by the quality of input data and model design. This thesis aim was to demonstrate how a combined storm water and surface flow model can be used when planning solutions for storm water management in an area subjected to exploitation and climate change. The report also intends to investigate which model parameter and what input data that gives raise to the greatest uncertainty in the model. By building a storm water model in the computer program Mike Flood, the risk of flooding in the area investigated, Västra Länna, could be examined. A sensitivity analysis was performed on the constructed model to identify sensitive input data and model parameters that may affect results due to their fluctuation. With the method used in this study the scale and volume of a flood can be calculated at the same time as wells in which the water level reaches the ground level can be identified. Such information can be used to determine where there is a need for new storm water solutions and for estimating new dimensions. The study has shown that the use of Mike Flood is suitable in urban areas where the water infiltration is limited and the storm water system is dominated by pipelines. The results show that exploitation and climate change may have huge impact on a storm water system designed to handle a 10-year rain. In the simulation with future climate changes the number of flooded wells increased by 30 percent, being the scenario with greatest impact on the storm water system in Västra Länna. The volume of flooding water increased 1.8 times in the exploitation scenario and 2.3 times when climate change was simulated. Based on the sensitivity analysis performed, it could be concluded that when modeling in Mike Flood, certain parameters need to be treated with greater accuracy than others. In the hydraulic model it is important that the imperviousness area used is thoroughly investigated. The parameters in the surface flow model that need to be handled with great accuracy are flooding/drying and damping factor. The construction of ditches and CDS-rain in the model also played an important part when obtaining results concerning the flooding magnitude.

No description available.

Floods are a recurrent natural disaster in Guatemala. Heavy and prolonged rainfall often results in floods that affect people’s life and property. Several institutions and policy instruments at local, national or transnational level address flood management. The purpose of this study is to provide useful insights of the institutional aspects of integrated flood management at local, national and transboundary level in Guatemala. Papers I and II, explore institutions at local level, paper III at national level, while paper IV addresses flood management institutions at transboundary level. This research found that for the local and national level, there are several institutions concerned with flood management. In contrast, at transboundary level, and especially for international rivers, flood management institutions are largely absent. At local level, the Local Councils for Development (COCODEs, the acronym in Spanish) are responsible for flood prevention and preparation. While some municipalities are active in flood prevention, response and recovery activities, their limited economic and technical resources restrict their scope of action.  Local stakeholders such as COCODEs, farmers groups and other actors are largely neglected in the decision making process. The National Coordinator for Risk Reduction to Disasters (CONRED, Coordinadora Nacional para Reducción de Desastres), the Secretariat for Planning and Programming of the Presidency (SEGEPLAN, Secretaría de Planificación y Programación de la Presidencia), the Guatemalan Ministry of Infrastructure and other national institutions are in charge of planning and implementing flood management strategies, leaving public involvement of local actors mainly to public consultation. At the Central American level, the Coordination Centre for Natural Disasters Prevention in Central America (CEPREDENAC, Centro de Coordinación para la Prevención de Desastres Naturales en América Central), an institution part of the Central American Integration System (SICA by Spanish acronym), shall promote transboundary cooperation regarding disaster management, including flood management. However, transboundary flood management faces several challenges: territorial disputes and sovereignty issues over international rivers are significant obstacles to the implementation of integrated flood management programs.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006. / "Fall, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 66-67). Online version available on the World Wide Web. Library also has microfilm. Ann Arbor, Mich. : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [2006]. 1 microfilm reel ; 35 mm.

Thesis (M.Env.St.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. Geographical and Environmental Studies, 1999. / Bibliography: leaves 110-115.