Recent Slovak flood protection relative to integrated flood risk management

ABSTRACT

The exclusive application of the engineering approach to flood defence is a matter of increasing disapproval. This has led to a new paradigm in flood management – the integrated management of flood risk. The change from engineering-based flood protection to the integrated management of flood risk is comparatively slow and has varied in different countries. In Slovakia, the engineering approach enjoys a strong tradition. Recently, the parliament and the government of the Slovak Republic (SR) approved documents which establish new legal and operational frameworks for flood defence in the SR. The aim of this paper is to analyse these documents regarding the concept of integrated flood risk management. The analysis shows that flood protection continues to be based on the traditional engineering approach, which reduces flooding by technical structures. How integrated flood risk assessment and management can eliminate the consequences of engineering flood management is presented through two approaches to preliminary flood risk assessment.

Keywords:

• Flood risk
• flood hazard
• vulnerability
• engineering flood protection
• integrated flood risk management

Acknowledgment

I would like to particularly thank the unknown reviewers for their stimulating comments.

Funding

This article is one of the outputs of the 2/0091 Project Flood Risk of Municipalities in Slovakia, accomplished with the financial support of the VEGA Grant Agency.