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

Recent UDFC studies from the Denver area have made attempts to identify

some of the intangible benefits directly. One of the more visible in-

tangible benefit categories is recreation opportunities which can also

be included in the indirect benefit category. Recreation benefits can

be quantified and are routinely done so by government agencies.

Secondary Benefits

Secondary damages may occur when the economic loss caused by flooding

extends farther than the losses to those whose property is directly

damaged. For example, people who depend on output produced by damaged

property or on hindered services may feel adverse affects [3]. Secondary

benefits would result if the secondary damages were reduced by imple-

mentation of an UDFC project. Other secondary benefits include the

generation of work in an area due to construction of the proposed UDFC

project. Secondary benefits are generally considered outside the scope

of UDFC project evaluation because of their complex nature.

Intangible Benefits

With the recent issuance of the Water Resources Council Planning

Standards [23] intangible costs and benefits have received greater

attention. Among the categories of intangible damages and benefits are

environmental quality, social well being and aesthetic values. It is

normally not feasible to estimate monetary values of intangible damages

and benefits, but these should certainly be considered as part of the

total analysis for project jurisdiction. There are several research

projects underway which intend to present methods of estimating the

magnitude of intangibles but hard quantitative information is not

anticipated within the"near future.

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