A Non-Linear Programming Approach to Floodplain Management With Non-Structural Alternatives

There is apparently a growing awareness of the role of non-structural measures as an important part of an overall flood damage reduction program. This awareness has come in part with the realization that structural measures often provide a false sense of security to floodplain occupants and can, then, result in increased food damages — contrary to their intended purpose. To be sure, restrictions prohibiting all development in flood prone areas is a polar case (which will eliminate all damages). There are no a priori reasons to believe that all uses should be prohibited from all floodplain areas. Some of these areas can, in fact, be put to economic use by land use management such that benefits derived outweigh costs associated with such development. The objectives underlying this investigation, then, are (i) to develop a methodology useful to planners at several levels for efficient floodplain management, considering both structural and non-structural measures and (ii) to demonstrate the usefulness of the methodology by applying it to a selected floodplain in the Connecticut River Basin.