FLOOD10053

• County: Statewide
• Community: State of Colorado
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: A Study to Identify Attitudes and Problems with Integrating Floodplain Management and Dam Safety
• Date: 8/1/1984
• Prepared For: University of Denver
• Prepared By: Stephen A. Spann
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

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vi

It

is apparent,

the group

had

some difficulty

assigning a value to human life on the same scale as money

and other social

values.

The zero risk outcome to prevent

further development and remove non-conforming structures from

beneath dams was the strongest

preference even

though

the

program would be the most costly.

This attitude manifests itself

strongest

in

the

nuclear industry and the federal dam program where the design

approaches the zero risk end of the probability scale. In

comparison

with

other

public

works

and

national

infrastructures,

the costs of

safety appear to be out of

~

proportion.

It is evedent that society needs to

identify the

price it is willing to pay for preventing the loss of a human

life in

order to compare program alternatives whether the

program assess dam safety, public health, highway safety, or

any other life risk mitigation program.

The value of life has been defined at random and in a

haphazard

manner

through

highway

safety

investments,

investments or non investments in medical

research,

through

the court

system in wrongful death awards, and the level of

fire and police protection in our cities.

Until society is willing to define the monetary value

of

life,

it

wi 11

be difficult,

if

not

impossible,

to

establish a rational dam safety program.

,

i