A consortium of researchers funded by the Environment Agency and Defra Joint R&D Programme has developed a toolkit to help flood risk managers quantify the benefits of flood risk management.

The aim of the research, which has been led by CH2M Hill, is to help flood risk managers explore a fuller range of flood risk management options, identify and justify the selection of the right flood management option. It also aims to understand the links and dependencies between difference flood risk management actions and account for these links in decisions

Large flood defence projects are not suitable, affordable or sustainable in all areas. In such instances, other actions to manage the flood risk have to be considered such as individual property level protection. Even when a large flood defence project is affordable, there are often important actions which enable the project to perform, such as the provision of an accurate flood warning so flood gates can be closed. This leaves us with the question: how to effectively assess the benefit of these different and often interacting management actions?

The toolkit has four main elements - the first is a framework designed to help visualise the complex relationships between the possible actions to manage flood risk. The framework is a conceptual model of the flood risk management system, designed to help flood risk managers:

• consider a wider range of risk management actions

• understand the dependencies between actions

• communicate their decisions effectively

The methods also can help quantify the benefits associated which enabling activities including the provision of flood forecasts and flood warnings and raising public awareness of flood risk.

There are also tools and a supporting user guide to help calculate values of flood damages avoided. Two spreadsheet analysis tools have been developed to implement the quantification methods described above. The two tools are targeted at routine and more complex appraisal.

Finally there are data tables with associated reference sources to allow flood risk managers to complete the calculations required.

The tools offer a more detailed method for the evaluation of property level protection schemes where a more rigorous analysis of benefits is required than those that can be generated by the Environment Agency’s Partnership Funding Calculator.

Research used to help Environment Agency with national level planning

The research has been used to help national level planning and prioritisation of investment in flood risk management. It has also been used in drawing up the Environment Agency’s long-term investment strategy and in the Flood Incident Management Investment Review.

The research is also helping the Environment Agency understand the effectiveness of the provision of its development management advice is and is informing the redesign of the approach to the National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA).

Applications for flood risk managers

Based on consultations with a range of flood risk managers, the report sets out a range of situations where the Environment Agency says the research would be useful, including:

• You are developing details of a property level protection scheme for a community, particularly if you are interested in understanding how sensitive the benefits might be to the timeliness and accuracy of a flood warning.
• You are promoting a new scheme to improve the forecasting and warning capability in your area and/or you are planning a flood awareness campaign and you would like to estimate what the economic benefits of these activities might be.
• You are comparing options for a flood defences scheme which includes movable (active) elements that have to be closed on receipt of a flood warning. In particular, you would like to know how the benefits of that scheme might differ from to a more passively designed option.

The potential uses are illustrated in the report through the use of case study examples.

The project was commissioned by the Environment Agency’s Evidence Directorate, as part of the joint Environment Agency/Defra Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Research and Development Programme.

The Agency's aim is to deliver Flood and Coastal Risk Management (FCRM) as efficiently as possible. However, large capital flood defence schemes are not always financially viable, appropriate or a sustainable solution to manage flood risk in all areas. The project has developed methods to help assess the effectiveness of a wider portfolio of options that can be employed to manage flood risk and  help achieve risk-based prioritisation of investments across a range of flood risk management options.

Click here to download the report Quantifying the benefits of flood risk management actions and advice