1 / 23

Prioritizing Investments within the USACE Levee Safety Program Process and Methodology Overview

Prioritizing Investments within the USACE Levee Safety Program Process and Methodology Overview. Jason Needham, P.E. Consequence Specialist USACE Risk Management Center 10 April 2012. Why am I here? Introduction to USACE Levee Safety Program Life of a levee Portfolio management process

jeneva
Download Presentation

Prioritizing Investments within the USACE Levee Safety Program Process and Methodology Overview

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Prioritizing Investments within the USACE Levee Safety ProgramProcess and Methodology Overview Jason Needham, P.E. Consequence Specialist USACE Risk Management Center 10 April 2012

  2. Why am I here? Introduction to USACE Levee Safety Program Life of a levee Portfolio management process Decision Making Step 1 - Levee Screening/LSAC Example – New Orleans Step 2 - Base Condition Risk Assessment Example - Dallas Overview

  3. Why am I here? • To learn about how the Dutch manage dike safety • National and International perception • The Dutch are the world leaders in water defense • Constantly compared to Dutch water defense standards • While the 1965 team of engineers in New Orleans tried to build levees strong enough to withstand the strongest possible storm in 200 years, Dutch engineers designed a system strong enough to match the kind of catastrophic storm that only occurs once in 10,000 years.   • “Maybe we can send more government workers on another tax paid trip to Holland where they can go to one meeting about Holland flood protection, go smoke dope together in a Dutch cafe shop and come back home with no plan to build Dutch style flood protected walls.”

  4. Why am I here? • Share recent developments in the US • New approaches post-Katrina • Specific tasks • Learn more about Dutch risk assessment methodology • Apply USACE methodologies on Dutch levees • Learn through feedback • Better communication of results at home

  5. The Life of a Levee - Plan (Local community) We get flooded too much, I’ll call USACE and ask them to help. Risk Analysis (no standards) B/C ($$) etc.

  6. The Life of a Levee - Construct Federally constructed, locally maintained

  7. Large portfolio of existing levees Risk associated with levees increasing over time Inherent risk associated with living near rivers and oceans Degradation of existing structures Changing construction techniques Increase in population, climate change, etc Increase in public awareness Katrina and other recent events Large portfolio - limited funds How do you decide what to fix first? Dutch approach = Safety assessment The Life of a Levee – Maintain

  8. The Life of a Levee – Maintain (old way) HQ

  9. Assess the integrity and viability of levees and recommend actions to assure they do not present unacceptable risks to the public, property, and the environment. Hold public safety paramount Reduce economic damage Maximize cost effectiveness Develop reliable and accurate information (decision driven) Build and maintain public trust USACE Levee Safety Program

  10. The Life of a Levee – Maintain(New way)

  11. Levee Safety Portfolio Risk Management Process Routine Activities

  12. Levee Safety Action Classification System • Transition from Routine to Non-routine • Reflects urgency of action • Depicts range of risk • combination of • likelihood of inundation • consequences of inundation • with an emphasis on life-safety • Provides consistent and systematic guidelines for actions commensurate with the risk

  13. Levee Screening Tool • Developed to quickly assess the condition and consequences of levees in the Corps of Engineers portfolio • Combines information from: • National Levee Database; • Levee inspection process; • Limited Engineering Assessment of project features. • Relative Risk Index • Philosophy • Data consistency • Miss high • Largo portfolio • Simplify!

  14. Levee Screening Tool Results

  15. Initial Results – New Orleans • System levees designed to reduce flooding from Mississippi River and Lake Pontchartrain • New Orleans District • Urban Setting • St.Charles/Jefferson/Orleans Metro FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

  16. Segment Screenings Vicinity/Segment Map East Jefferson LD Orleans LD Pontchartrain LD 5 4 6 2 1 3

  17. Screening Results – New Orleans • Recommended LSAC Rating = LSAC 2 • Combination of life, economic, or environmental consequences with the probability of inundation due to overtopping with subsequent breach, is very high. • Justification: • Performance concern: Breach during overtopping • Evidence: • Good performance expected for events up to 100% loading • Incipient overtopping frequency estimated at 200-year return period • Studies show breach likely for event at or about 200-500 yr event • Breach during overtopping would significantly increase consequences • Critical infrastructure includes numerous hospitals, oil & gas refineries, and chemical industry facilities that could lead to major impacts well beyond the protected area

  18. Levee Safety Portfolio Risk Management Process Non-Routine Activities

  19. Jason Needham USACE Risk Management Center Jason.t.needham@usace.army.mil Jason.needham@rws.nl Thank you.

More Related