Flood plain management through allocation of land uses–a dynamic programming model

Hopkins, Lewis D.; Brill Jr., E. Downey; Liebman, Jon C.; Wenzel, Harry G., Jr.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/90336 Copy

Description

Title

Flood plain management through allocation of land uses–a dynamic programming model

Author(s)

• Hopkins, Lewis D.
• Brill Jr., E. Downey
• Liebman, Jon C.
• Wenzel, Harry G., Jr.

Contributor(s)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Issue Date

1976-12

Keyword(s)

• Water resources development
• Water resources development--Illinois
• Water management
• Flood protection
• Land use
• Economic efficiency
• Welfare (economics)
• Optimum development plans
• Dynamic programming
• Flood routing
• Urbanization
• Optimization
• Flood plains
• Non-structural alternatives
• Land management
• Economic rent
• Flood plain zoning
• Zoning

Geographic Coverage

Illinois (state)

Abstract

Despite heroic structural measures, flood damages continue to rise. This research develops a means for identifying more nearly optimal patterns of land use with particular reference to timing, depth, and duration of flooding. The major premise is that flood plain management is best viewed as a problem of allocating land uses to land parcels. A dynamic programming model is developed to determine what combination of downstream uses, which require flood protection, and upstream uses, which may increase runoff or provide protection through longer water retention, should be encouraged. The dynamic programming model and an associated simplified routing technique are demonstrated on a real watershed. Desirable extensions of the model are identified. One major result of the project is the realization of a need to classify watersheds by the degree of effective interdependence among land use decisions so as to determine the most appropriate types of analytical model s and public sector interventions for particular cases. Thinking about flood management as a problem of land use allocation is shown to be a fruitful conceptualization for exploring the issues, for developing models, and for identifying appropriate public sector interventions.

Publisher

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Water Resources Center

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90336

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

• U.S. Geological Survey
• U.S. Department of the Interior

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 1976 held by the authors

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