FLOOD04820

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Evaluation and Implementation of Urban Drainage and Flood Control Projects Completion Report
• Date: 6/1/1974
• Prepared By: CSU Environmental Resources Center,
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

EVALUATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF
URBAN DRAINAGE AND FLOOD CONTROL PROJECTS
By Neil S. Grigg, Leonard Rice, Leslie H. Botham and W. J. Shoemaker

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Abstract

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Urban drainage and flood control (UDFC) systems provide a service

to urban areas with three basic components; flood control, convenience

drainage and environmental sanitation. This service is one of many pro-

vided by local government and must compete for public funding with other

more visible programs such as education, transportation and public

safety. The evaluation problem for UDFC arises when the merit of in~

dividual UDFC systems must be determined, when competing UDFC projects

must be ranked, when optimal investment timing is sought and when the

incidence of UDFC benefits and costs must be known. The results of all

of these evaluations affect the funding of the UDFC sector, in competi-

tion with other public programs. UDFC systems are normally identified

as mino~ or majo~ in character, the former providing for the drainage

of frequent runoff events, the latter providing for the rarer runoff

events. The major UDFC system normally provides substantial flood

damage reduction benefits while the minor system provides intangible.

benefits. An interim methodology for evaluating major UDFC projects is

presented. It considers mostly flood damage benefits because limited

data on them is available. Planned extension of the methodology will
incorporate more formally intangible and indirect benefits. Because of
the legal problems associated with identifying and quantifying benefits
a state~of~the~art survey on the legal basis for establishing benefits
is presented. It contributes to the difficult area of financing and

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