Sustainable Riverine Flood Risk Management : Potential Techniques and Challenges

This thesis contains a review on the types of floods and the potential approaches for management of riverine floods. It includes the various engineering methods that can be utilized in order to minimize the hazards occur with floods. Taking references from various sources available on the internet discloses the challenges in riverine flood risk management. Various engineering techniques are available to control floods and minimize their impacts, but they may have various side effects on the society and environment. With references from various sources, those social and environmental impacts are indicated in this thesis. Floods and other disasters are killing numerous lives and damaging the society and economy as well as the environment. Even though floods are not predictable, it is necessary to implement the possible approaches to defend them. The engineering techniques can play a significant role in minimizing the negative impacts of the catastrophe. Selection of the most efficient techniques is needed so that the side effects can be as minimal as possible. Basically, two types of engineering techniques are mentioned in the thesis. They are hard and soft engineering techniques. Hard techniques are those techniques which involve large constructions such as dams, levees and dikes. Soft engineering techniques are those techniques which do not include massive constructions. They are the ecologically sensitive methods that promote the originality of natural environment. The impacts of both the techniques and the challenges on commencing them are listed in the thesis. Findings of environmental researches support soft engineering techniques in instead of hard ones as they seem to pose less or no damage to the natural environment and ecology and tend to support the improvement of environmental quality. Hard engineering techniques are mostly against the nature. They threaten the biological, physical and chemical status of the environment. Hence, hard engineering techniques should be implemented only after enough studies and researches. Ideas generated for protecting the society and environment should not destroy them