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.

Risk assessment has become a dominant public policy tool for making choices, based on limited resources, to protect public health and the environment. It has been instrumental to the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as other federal agencies in evaluating public health concerns, informing regulatory and technological decisions, prioritizing research needs and funding, and in developing approaches for cost-benefit analysis. However, risk assessment is at a crossroads. Despite advances in the field, risk assessment faces a number of significant challenges including lengthy delays in making complex decisions; lack of data leading to significant uncertainty in risk assessments; and many chemicals in the marketplace that have not been evaluated and emerging agents requiring assessment. Science and Decisions makes practical scientific and technical recommendations to address these challenges. This book is a complement to the widely used 1983 National Academies book, Risk Assessment in the Federal Government (also known as the Red Book). The earlier book established a framework for the concepts and conduct of risk assessment that has been adopted by numerous expert committees, regulatory agencies, and public health institutions. The new book embeds these concepts within a broader framework for risk-based decision-making. Together, these are essential references for those working in the regulatory and public health fields.

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

Proceedings of the Fourth Engineering Conference, held in Santa Barbara, California, October 15-20, 1989. This collection contains 20 papers that address the application of risk analysis to a wealth of water resources problems. Current risk-assessment issues confronting water resources planners are evaluated along with areas of uncertainty. Requirements and procedures currently promoted by engineers in federal and state water resources agencies are identified. Decision analysis methods and/or models that can explicitly incorporate risk preferences are reviewed. In addition, various risk methodologies are discussed as they apply to dam safety, flood control, environmental impacts, and other social, economic, and technological aspects of water resources planning and management.

Examines timely multidisciplinary applications, problems, and case histories in risk modeling, assessment, and management Risk Modeling, Assessment, and Management, Third Edition describes the state of the art of risk analysis, a rapidly growing field with important applications in engineering, science, manufacturing, business, homeland security, management, and public policy. Unlike any other text on the subject, this definitive work applies the art and science of risk analysis to current and emergent engineering and socioeconomic problems. It clearly demonstrates how to quantify risk and construct probabilities for real-world decision-making problems, including a host of institutional, organizational, and political issues. Avoiding higher mathematics whenever possible, this important new edition presents basic concepts as well as advanced material. It incorporates numerous examples and case studies to illustrate the analytical methods under discussion and features restructured and updated chapters, as well as: A new chapter applying systems-driven and risk-based analysis to a variety of Homeland Security issues An accompanying FTP site—developed with Professor Joost Santos—that offers 150 example problems with an Instructor's Solution Manual and case studies from a variety of journals Case studies on the 9/11 attack and Hurricane Katrina An adaptive multiplayer Hierarchical Holographic Modeling (HHM) game added to Chapter Three This is an indispensable resource for academic, industry, and government professionals in such diverse areas as homeland and cyber security, healthcare, the environment, physical infrastructure systems, engineering, business, and more. It is also a valuable textbook for both undergraduate and graduate students in systems engineering and systems management courses with a focus on our uncertain world.

Proceedings of the Ninth United Engineering Foundation Conference, held in Santa Barbara, California, October 15-20, 2000. Sponsored by United Engineering Foundation. Cosponsored by Universities Council on Water Resources; Task Committee on Risk Analysis and Management of the Committee on Water Resources Planning of the Water Resources Planning and Management Division of ASCE; National Science Foundation; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Institute for Water Resources. This collection contains 18 papers on the rapidly growing field of risk-based decisionmaking in water resources. Topics include: new theoretical and methodological frontiers and the economic dimensions of risk analysis, legislative initiatives and risk assessment, maintenance and rehabilitation, reliability of physical infrastructure, flood frequency and climate nonstationarity, and risk of extreme events.