ABSTRACT
Determining optimum flood protection levels is challenging in data-poor environments typical of developing countries. This study develops a risk-modelling approach to calculate current flood risks for a predominantly agricultural area in the Brahmani–Baitarani river basin in India. A combined hydrological–hydraulic model is developed together with a damage model to analyse the economic efficiency of different safety levels of embankments. The results show that more than 90% of the total flood risk would be controlled with embankments giving a protection level of once in 25 years. The study illustrates the feasibility of a relatively basic flood-risk analysis that can be applied at pre-feasibility level in a data-poor environment.
Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was published in the project report Operational Research to Support Mainstreaming of Integrated Flood Management under Climate Change, by Deltares in association with RMSI and JSP (see http://www.nationalwatermission.gov.in/sites/default/files/std_Phase2/Paper%20Manuscripts.pdf). We acknowledge our colleagues of the PATA 8089 project, and express our sincere thanks for the assistance received from the Central Water Commission and National Water Mission of India. We specifically thank V. Kumar, C. P. Singh and J. Singh for their contributions to the analyses presented in this paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Supplementary material
Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2021.1899899