New Orleans Flood Control System Analysis
Dr. Maribel Mojica Howell
This paper will look into the cost and benefit analysis of the New Orleans Flood Control System. The origin of the flood protection system and its mode of operation will also be discussed. Finally, we will evaluate the expenses of running the system as well as the valuation of expected returns in case of a subsequent calamity.
The engineers faced with the task of strengthening the city's flood protection confess how much they learned during their trip to Dutch riverbanks and floodgates. They also reveal how Netherland's engineers are advanced in this trade and what could be done to level the disaster management preparedness. The Dutch government has funded flood control in billions of dollars and is still pumping money into the projects. The engineers however believed that support and funding from the government is all they need to reach the same status as the Netherlands since there is nothing extraordinary that they do (Martel, 2006). Lots of engineers and politicians have been to the Netherlands hoping to acquire knowledge on how the Dutch managed to come up with such a strong flood defense - capable of enduring the Hurricane and Katrina, storms that overpowered the New Orleans' Flood Control System (Martel, 2006).
Water control has been at top of all priorities in the Netherlands because of their location, 20 feet below sea level. A $15 billion program that stretched for 50 years to protect the south against storm has recently been achieved by the country in building of dams, sea walls and surge barriers - a program that was facilitated by the death of 1800 people who died in the floods in 1953. Every year the country incurs $15 billion as maintenance of the system that keeps the country dry. Replacement of the 19th century riverbank control system with expertise and professionalism on flood control was the only choice that had to be put in place for the state to fund the project. The system was revised by lawmakers but that was not enough as long as the congress agreed to spend billions for it to guarantee safety from another catastrophe like Katarina. Despite the funding approval by the congress, some people in Louisiana still doubt the corps' ability to take care of the work (Martel, 2006).
Hurricane Katarina still holds the record of being the most destructive disaster ever occurred in the U.S. And most expensive ever suffered by the global insurance industry estimating to between $40-$60 billion insured losses (Hurricane Katarina Profile Of A Supper Cat).
A decision based on cost-benefit analysis focusing on the level of protection the city needs to put in place, is vital in the reconstruction stages of New Orleans. The outcome of such an analysis is dependent on different factors which when altered cause different recommendations (Hallegatte, 2007). First-order analysis considers climate change and related disruptions of the environment caused by humans as the primal cause of such catastrophes. Second-order details on the consequences of large-scale disasters, probable shifts in the rate of discount, the damage diversity and risk aversion - a move that may make hurricane protection a wise decision in as much as risk compensation and moral issues - are part of the analysis (Hallegatte, 2007). These outcomes indicate how sensitive the CBA recommendation is towards unclear assumptions and goes ahead to portray the benefits of second-order costs and diversity of damage in welfare losses. Additionally, climate change creates another aspect of uncertainty in the infrastructural make-up that adds to the probability of increasing risks or reduced costs.
An argument arises concerning rebuilding of the New Orleans as well as the plan of the flood protection system six months after the failure of the fourth category of Hurricane Katarina. The vital need to rebuild and enable the city flood protection system to cope with the fifth category of hurricanes remains in doubt by even the House Speaker, Dennis Hastert (Hallegatte, 2007). Precautionary principle has been suggested as an additional decision-making framework for protection from natural disaster. According to CBA, New Orleans would be a beneficiary of flood protection system capable of sustaining category five of hurricanes as opposed to category three and four hurricanes if only excess costs of the new system was less than the benefits expected from lowered flood damages. This article shows the difference in conclusions made from two assessments putting the dire consequences of Katrina (Hallegatte,2007).
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