Twenty-nine essays from the conference examine such topics as regulatory reform, environmental world views and water resources, policy and engineering decision making under global change, modeling and solving water resources engineering design problems, reliability of a box culvert structure under a levee during project floods, project planning in developing countries, the influence of trust on risk-based decision making, urban stormwater quality management, risk reduction of lead and mercury, and measures of water distribution system reliability. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Contains the papers presented at the third Engineering Foundation Conference on Risk-Based Decision-making titled Risk Analysis and Management of Natural and Man-Made Hazards, held in California on November 8-13, 1987. The papers focus on the use and application of risk analysis to the management of natural and man-made hazards.

Ronald M. North President Universities Council on Water Resources People sense intuitively that the world in which we live is not free of risk. Every decision, every action, even the refusal to either act or decide involves some element of risk. Perhaps, because we accept relatively low levels of risk in our daily activi ties, we tend to minimize the existence of risk and thereby fail to include risk assessment in those decisions and actions which could be improved through a risk assessment process. However, our casual approach to risk assessment seems to stem largely from the diffi culties inherent in measuring risk rather than from any lack of cognizance of the existence of risk. This conclusion is evidenced by the many statements in official documents relating to planning and evaluation which suggest that risk assessments should be con ducted but do not provide the mechanism for such assessments nor do they encourage their consideration in the decision making process. This conference on Risk/Benefit Analysis in Water Resources Planning and Management is notable because it attempts to identify and evaluate the mechanisms available for risk assessment which might be useful in water resources planning and management efforts. These proceedings bring together the thoughts of professional per sons who have struggled with the problems of risk assessment and who have contributed to the refinement of both theoretical and pragmatic solutions for the improvement of risk assessment processes.

Comprises edited papers from the proceedings of the Eighth Engineering Foundation Conference held in Santa Barbara, California, on October 12-17, 1997. This work discusses legislative initiatives and risk assessment, climate change, El Ninako, maintenance and rehabilitation, reliability of physical infrastructure, and the risk of extreme events.

Confronting Climate Uncertainty in Water Resources Planning and Project Design describes an approach to facing two fundamental and unavoidable issues brought about by climate change uncertainty in water resources planning and project design. The first is a risk assessment problem. The second relates to risk management. This book provides background on the risks relevant in water systems planning, the different approaches to scenario definition in water system planning, and an introduction to the decision-scaling methodology upon which the decision tree is based. The decision tree is described as a scientifically defensible, repeatable, direct and clear method for demonstrating the robustness of a project to climate change. While applicable to all water resources projects, it allocates effort to projects in a way that is consistent with their potential sensitivity to climate risk. The process was designed to be hierarchical, with different stages or phases of analysis triggered based on the findings of the previous phase. An application example is provided followed by a descriptions of some of the tools available for decision making under uncertainty and methods available for climate risk management. The tool was designed for the World Bank but can be applicable in other scenarios where similar challenges arise.