Citatie 94

Title:
Literature Study on Environmental Impact of Floods
Author: K.P. Gautam Institute: GeoDelft

Author: E.E. van der Hoek Institute: GeoDelft
June 2003
Number of pages : 57
Keywords (3-5) : Inundation, Flood, Environment, Impact, Modelling
DC-Publication-number : DC1-233-13
Institute Publication-number
: 720303 GeoDelft
(optional)
Report Type : Intermediary report or study

: Final projectreport
DUP-publication Type : DUP Standard

DUP-Science
Acknowledgement
Exampletext: This research has been sponsored by the Dutch Government through the
Netherlands Fellowship Programme and the ICES-2 programme and the European Union through
the IRMA-SPONGE programme. The research is part of the Research programme of Delft
Cluster and the Netherlands Centre for River Research (NCR).
We thank P. Helpful for his critical comments on a draft of this report.
Conditions of (re-)use of this publication

The full-text of this report may be re-used under the condition of an acknowledgement and a
correct reference to this publication.
Other Research project sponsor(s):
Delft Cluster-publication: DC1-233-13
Abstract
In this study the enivronmental impact of flood as desrcibed in various research articles, scientific
papers and field is summarized. In this literature study the emphasis is given in collecting the case
studies and scientific researches related to environmental impacts caused by a flooding event such as
human and animal health, impacts on aquatic live, chemical hazards caused by flooding events,
surface and groundwater pollution, soil degradation, impacts on agriculture and farming etc. The
results show that very limited research has been done investigating the flood impacts on flora and
fauna. Furthermore, there appears to be a lack of research on short-term and long-term environmental
impacts of flooding. There has been very limited studies on chemical hazards due to flooding and
inundation.
PROJ ECT NAME: Flood consequences P R O J E C T C O D E : 02.03.03

BASEPROJECT NAME: Flood consequences and acceptability BASEPROJECT CODE: 02.03
T H E M E N A M E : Risk of flooding T H E M E C O D E : 02
Date: June 2003 p. 2

Executive summary
Systematic, scientific approaches to identifying and mitigating environmental impacts of flood

hazard is a recent phenomenon. The subjects discussed in this report are derived from various
research articles, scientific papers and field investigations carried out by many environmentalists,
engineers, scientists and researchers in developed countries. Emphasis is given in collecting the case
studies and scientific researches related to environmental impacts caused by a flooding event such as
human and animal health, impacts on aquatic live, chemical hazards caused by flooding events,
surface and groundwater pollution, soil degradation, impacts on agriculture and farming etc. This
report is not a complete document, which covers all aspects of environmental impacts of the flood. It
is rather a starting document, which highlights the importance of environmental impact assessment
and its scientific researches for better understanding and cooping with the floods in the future. This
report may be helpful for researchers in this area. Having done a short literature research, some case
studies and examples of scientific studies are presented in the report. Although, attempts were made
to discover some aspects of modelling of flood environment and strategic environmental
management of flood, these two sections are relatively weak in this report. A list of commonly
available literature references is given at the end of this report.
The results show that :
a) Very limited research has been done investigating the flood impacts on flora and fauna. Furthermore,
there appears to be a lack of research on short-term and long-term environmental impacts of flooding.
There has been very limited studies on chemical hazards due to flooding and inundation.
b) Sediment transport is a well-studied engineering science. However, contamination of sediment due to
the flooding and spreading of any such contamination and its consequences is still an ongoing research
subject.
c) Traditionally, assessment of environmental loss is not considered important. Therefore, systematic and
scientific environmental impact assessment of a flood is a very rarely investigated, recorded and
published.
d) Normally, intangible losses are not taken into account while calculating the flood losses. On the other
hand most of the environmental consequences can not be evaluated in the monetary term.
e) There are several models, which can simulate the flooding event. Similarly, there appears to have
several environmental modelling programmes, which can simulate the environmental problems.
However, this research indicated that there is a need for developing an integrated model, which can
simulate environmental problems along with the hydraulic modelling of a flood event.
f) There appears to be flood management plans of each flood prone countries. Some countries appear to
have protocols of safety and evacuation of chemical plants in case of flooding. However, official
protocols do not appear to in the public domain, that can be easily accessed for example by searching in
the internet or in the database.
PROJ ECT NAME: Flood consequences P R O J E C T C O D E : 02.03.03

BASEPROJECT NAME: Flood consequences and acceptability BASEPROJECT CODE: 02.03
T H E M E N A M E : Risk of flooding T H E M E C O D E : 02

Table of contents
Literature Study on Environmental Impact of Floods .......................................................................1
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................2
1 Introduction..................................................................................................................................6
1.1 General.................................................................................................................................6
1.2 Historical background..........................................................................................................6
2 Objective of the study ................................................................................................................10
3 Research Methodology ..............................................................................................................11
4 Ongoing Research Activities: ....................................................................................................12
5 General consequences of a flood ...............................................................................................13
6 Environmental Impact Assessment of Flood Hazards............................................................15

6.1 Types of Flood impacts......................................................................................................16
6.2 Environmental Impacts of River Floods in The Netherlands ............................................17
6.3 Socio-economic impacts of 1995 flood on the Han river in Korea ...................................18
7 Chemical hazards during the flood events...............................................................................19

7.1 Case study: Chemical hazards, Oder River, Poland, 1997 ................................................19
7.2 Case study: Spolana Chemical plant, Czech republic, 2002..............................................19
7.3 Case study: Chemical hazards in Red River (USA) flood, 1997.......................................20
7.4 Case study: A tailings dam failure in Romania, 2000 .......................................................21
7.5 Case study: A coal tailings dam failure in USA, 2000 ......................................................21
7.6 Case study: A tailings dam failure in Philippines, 2002....................................................22
7.7 Case study: Ohio River Oil Spill, 1998 .............................................................................22
7.8 Case study: Agricultural Chemicals- Mississippi river, 1993............................................23
7.9 Case study: Post-flood assessment of St Maries, Idaho 1996............................................23
8 Human and animal health.........................................................................................................25

8.1 Case study: Norway, 1995.................................................................................................26
8.2 Case study: Finland in 1998-1999: ....................................................................................27
8.3 Case study: Human health risk assessment in The Netherlands ........................................27
8.4 Case study: Red River Flooding 1997 ...............................................................................28
8.5 Effects of flood on food safety ..........................................................................................28
8.6 Effects of flood on sanitation and hygiene ........................................................................28
8.7 Miscellaneous health and hygiene issues..........................................................................28
9 Plant, biology, aquatic lives.......................................................................................................30

9.1 Destruction of forest ..........................................................................................................30
9.2 Toxicity of Cyanide and Cyanide –Breakdown Compounds to Fresh water Fish.............30
10 Agriculture and animal farming...............................................................................................31

11 Soil and sediment pollution .......................................................................................................32
12 Flood Hazards for Nuclear Power Plants ................................................................................33
13 Surface and ground water pollution.........................................................................................34

13.1 Water quality during flood in 1997 in Czech republic ......................................................34
13.2 Impacts on Water Quality during Red River Flooding 1997. ............................................35
14 Miscellaneous River pollution...................................................................................................36

14.1 A 70 year records of contamination along the Garone River in SW France. ....................36
14.2 Case study: Cyanide Spill in Kyrgyzstan, 1998.................................................................36
15 Modelling of flood related environment..................................................................................37

15.1 BOD Pollution in River .....................................................................................................37
15.2 Modelling the loss of live ..................................................................................................37
15.3 Accidental pollution Simulation System ...........................................................................38
15.4 Computer modelling of fecal coliform contamination of an urban estuarine system:.......38
15.5 Modelling pesticide losses from diffuse sources in Germany. ..........................................39
15.6 Non-point pollution of Ishikari River, Hokkaido, Japan ...................................................39
15.7 Study on real time control of non-point pollutants discharged from urban areas during a
storm event.........................................................................................................................39
15.8 A model of liquid release from a submerged vessel ..........................................................40
16 Management, plan and strategy................................................................................................41

16.1 Comparison of Dutch and English management concepts ................................................42
16.2 Risk of flooding and Insurance in The Netherlands ..........................................................44
16.3 Risk of Flooding and Contingency Plans...........................................................................44
17 Conclusions.................................................................................................................................45
18 Recommendations ......................................................................................................................46
19 Bibliography ...............................................................................................................................47
General Appendix: Delft Cluster Research Programme Information ............................................56

1 Introduction
1.1 General
Systematic, scientific approaches to identifying and mitigating environmental impacts of flood hazard
is a recent phenomenon. The subjects discussed in this report are derived from various research
articles, scientific papers and field investigations carried out by many environmentalists, engineers,
scientists and researchers in developed countries. Emphasis is given in collecting the case studies and
scientific researches related to environmental impacts caused by a flooding event such as human and
animal health, impacts on aquatic live, chemical hazards caused by flooding events, surface and
groundwater pollution, soil degradation, impacts on agriculture and farming etc. This report is not a
complete document, which covers all aspects of environmental impacts of the flood. It is rather a
starting document, which highlights the importance of environmental impact assessment and its
scientific researches for better understanding and cooping with the floods in the future. This report
may be helpful for researchers in this area. Having done a short literature research, some case studies
and examples of scientific studies are presented in the report. Although, attempts were made to
discover some aspects of modelling of flood environment and strategic environmental management of
flood, these two sections are relatively weak in this report. Few points are presented as conclusion and
recommendations at the end of this write up. A list of commonly available literature references is
given at the end of this report.
1.2 Historical background
Floods in more than 80 countries have killed almost 3000 people and caused hardships for more than
17 million worldwide since the beginning of 2002 according to the reports published by the World
Meteorological Organisation (WMO) a specialised organisation of United nations based based in
Switzerland (www.reliefweb.int ). WMO estimated the total property damage is more than 30 billion
US dollars with over 8 million square kilometres of the total area affected by floods during the first
eight months in 2002. The area affected by flood is almost the size of the United States of America.
During the August 2002, worst ever recorded floods disasters occurred in Central Europe affecting
mainly Germany, Czech Republic and Austria. Similarly, the flood events in China, India, Nepal,
Bangladesh have effected the region severely.
Flood is a widespread natural risk. During the period of 1973 and 1997 an average of 66 million
people a year suffered flood damages (Douben, 2002). In 1998 the death toll from floods hit almost
30,000 (Douben, 2002). Following are some of the major flood events of the recent past:
Some examples of Flooding:
2002: Germany, Czech Republic, Austria
Heavy rains in Central and Eastern Europe August 2002 was the worst flooding in the region in more
than a century. The floods have killed more than 100 people in Germany, Russia, Austria, Hungary,
and the Czech Republic and have led to as much as $20 billion in damage. Only in Czech republic
220,000 people were evacuated. A chemical factory was flooded and more than 100 tones of
chemicals were spilled (Associate France Press (AFP), www.reliefweb.int). The flood also effected
beauty and aesthetics of the historic Prague City. Similarly, Los Angeles Times (17 Aug 2002) under
the title of Flood Threaten German chemical plant reported that swelling flood water in two rivers

threaten to overwhelm a massive chemical industrial park in Mulde, Bitterfeld, where 350 factories
are housed.
2002: China, India, Bangladesh
Extensive floods occurred across many Asian countries during the summer of 2002, mainly in China,
India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Lao etc (www.reliefweb.int )
In China, the flooding has claimed 793 lives and caused direct economic losses of more than 30
billion Yuan (3.61 billion U.S. dollars). The floods affected 24 province-level administrative zones
and a population of more than 100 million by July 8. It was the worst flooding in China since the early
1990s in both area and population affected. More than 80,000 people were evacuated. More than
20,000 houses were destroyed and more than 175,000 ha of crops were inundated.
In Bangladesh, the flood has killed more than 90 people, damaged thousands of homes and 500,000
ha of rice paddies. More than 30,000 people in flooded areas are affected by water-borne diseases (12
Aug 2002, (www.reliefweb.int).
More than 440 people lost their lives and 55,337 families were affected along with a huge amount of
property destroyed or damaged by the rains and floods in Nepal this year (www.nepalnews.com) .
Death toll of Thailand Flash Floods was recorded 78. The floods and landslides triggered by
monsoon rains in Nepal have claimed at least 257 lives. Similarly, in Vietnam, Mekong flood death
toll is more than 27.
1991, 1994, 1995 and 1996: China
As far as major flood disasters are concerned, China holds a sad record, with the number of people
killed in such catastrophes this century running into the millions. In the summer of 1991, an area in
the east of China measuring 130,000 km2 was inundated. Three millions houses were swept away or
completely destroyed. Six million dwellings were severely damaged. Ten million people had to be
resettled. Three years later, six provinces were hit in south and south east of the country, above all the
picturesque region of Guangxi along the Li River. Almost 1500 people lost their lives, with billion
dollar losses. More than 100 million people were threatened the next year, when flood caused by
melting snow and record levels of rainfall. Ten provinces in central, eastern and southern China were
affected. The peak was reached in the flood of 1996. Extremely large amount of rain fell through out
central and southern China and triggered many landslides. Again over 100 million people were
affected, 2700 were killed, and more than a million had to be evacuated. Way over a million houses
were destroyed and almost 10 million damaged. 8000 factories had to close down, 100,000 km2 of
farmland were swamped. The estimated loss in 1996 alone exceeded USD 20 billion.
1987: South Africa
In September 1987, the East Coast of South Africa was hit by its worst natural catastrophe in living
memory. Day after day the rain fell, some areas recording amounts of 700 l/m2 in just a short time.
Rivers and streams were turned into raging torrents, and in Natal, the most heavily drowned, one
million were made homeless. Most severely affected were Pietermaritzburg and the port Durban. The
overall loss topped USD 500 million.
1982 and 1983: Peru
At the turn of the year 1982/1983, Peru suffered its most severe flood catastrophe since 1925. El
Nino, the ‘boy child’ caused weeks of rainfall. On account of the high ocean temperatures, fish

supplies were drastically reduced, which had a major effect on the fishing industries. On the main
land, one of the most arid regions on earth, enormous flooding occurred. An area measuring 1200
km2 was swamped. In the north of the country, where there were numerous landslides, water and
electricity supplies in many areas broke down completely. More than 300 people were drowned. The
overall loss came to about US$ 400 million.
1974: Australia
In January 1974, two tropical discharged their loads onto the Australian continent and caused chaos
and damage caused costing millions of dollars. In West Australia, the amount of rain registered in just
one week was equal to the region’ s average precipitation per annum. Peak recordings were taken in
the east, too. A lake the size of Western Europe was formed in the ‘dead heart’ of Australia, where an
area measuring almost 2,000, 000 km2 was under water for weeks. Property damage and bodily injury
were at their worst in the Greater Brisbane area. Fifteen people were drowned, 14,000 houses were
damaged. Industry and commerce were hit particularly hard, especially the firms located on the
floodplain, where land for development was relatively inexpensive. The overall loss amounted to
some US$230 million.
1970 and 1991: Bangladesh
Large parts of Bangladesh are situated just above sea level. Three huge rivers (Ganges, Brahmaputra
and Meghna) and is threatened not only by cyclones and storm surges but also by river flooding as a
result of extreme monsoon rainfall. Dramatic flood catastrophes are a regular occurrence. In
November 1970,300,000 people died in a violent storm surge. On 29th and 30th April 1991, a cyclone
that had built up in the Bay of Bengal devastated a 500 –km stretch of coast and inundated 16
administrative districts, where nearly all the houses were destroyed. 2,000 villages around Chittagong
and Cox` s Bazar in the south east of the country were hit, 140,000 were killed, ten million made
homeless. The tidal wave, which reached a height of 7 m in some areas, annihilated 75% of the rice
crop and laid waste to salt production plants and shrimp farms.
1966: Florence (Italy)
When the inhabitants of Florence were woken by a muffled roaring sound on the morning of
4thNovember1966 some parts of the city were already five meters under water. A third of the average
annual precipitation had fallen in just 24 hours, making the Arno river rise at a rate of one meter per
hour and causing the worst flood catastrophe in Italy since 1061.In Florence itself, more then
6,000shops and businesses were damaged and many thousands of vehicles were stuck in meter-thick
messes of mud. The economic loss was US$1.3 billion. Countless art treasures were irretrievably
ruined.
1962: Hamburg, Germany
During the night of 16th February 1962, Germany experienced its worst flooding since the World War
II. A heavy northwesterly storm with wind speed of up to 150 km/h drove masses of water from the
North Sea into the German Bight. The storm surge reached its climax, when the elevated water level
caused by the wind concurred with high tide. In more then 60 places, the sea defenses, with a total
length of more then 100 km, were unable to withstand the enormous pressure exerted or were
overtopped.125 km2 (45%of the city area) was submerged.350people were drowned, most of them on
the island of Wilhelmsburg, which was completely submerged by the flood waters (backwater) of the
Elbe river. The overall loss came to US$600 million, which is roughly equivalent to US$3 billion in
today’s terms. Immediately after this catastrophe flood and sea defenses were improved, but these
were apparently not effective enough because 14 years later, when the gale Capella stormed over
western and Central Europe early in 1976,Hamburg again was partially submerged. This time

numerous warehouses in the port area were affected, involving huge losses due to goods being
soaked.
1953: The Netherlands, Belgium and England
The 1953 storm was the worst natural catastrophe to hit the North Sea region this century. Within
three days, a strong northwesterly wind drove almost 500,000,000 m3 of water into the southern part
of North Sea. Fifty sea-dikes in the Netherlands breached. Thousands of square kilometres of land
were inundated, in some placed several meters deep. More than 1,800 people were drowned, 3,000
were destroyed and 40,000 badly damaged. Millions of hectares of valuable farmland were washed
away. The intrusion of salt water into the agricultural land caused the agricultural problesm for many
years. The overall losses exceed half a billion dollars. Belgium and England were also severely
affected. In England flooding on the Thames and the Wash claimed more than 300 lives and destroyed
24,000 houses.

2 Objective of the study
The main objective of this research was to get an overview of the environmental consequences that a
flood event might bring into the society and the nature. The primary focus is to highlight the major
consequences either short term or long term that may be encountered during and after a flood event.
The present scenario on the research related to flood and flood management is more focused on the
structural measure as part of flood defence strategies, studying non-structural measures to coop with
the flood events, immediate mitigation, restoration and compensation of the flood disasters. Very
limited research has been accomplished in the part of environmental impacts of flood itself. One of
the largest and very recent international gatherings on flood issues “Flood Defence 2002– Second
International Symposium” held in Beijing, China during 10-13 September included the topics on
environmental impacts of flood.

3 Research Methodology
Initially, basic information was searched through the Internet. For this purpose some of the search
engines such as www.google.com, www.altavista.com, were used with the input of key words like
flood, flood hazards, environmental effects of flood etc. having done some search in this way, a
general overview and fundamental area of environmental effects were established. Some of the major
sector under consideration for further research was identified as following:
• General environmental consequences

• Surface and ground water pollution
• Soil and sediment contamination
• Chemical pollution and oil spillage
• Human and animal health
• Aquatic life and plant species
• Agricultural and animal farming
• Environmental modelling of flood events
• Management plan and Emergency strategies
Database search was undertaken in order to discover the research papers and scientific articles already
published in the above sectors. For this purpose, various databases were accessed through the
Technical University Delft Library. Attention was given to the research mainly carried out during the
last decade and based on the experience of developed and industrialised countries. Mainly, the
following database were used for this purpose:
• Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA)

• ANTE
• Compendex
• Chemical abstracts
• Environment Abstract
• Environmental Science and Pollution
• Fluidex
• Pascal
• Toxnet
• Water resources Abstract
• NTIS reports
It has to be noted that search of the research papers and articles was based on the limited use of key
words. The relevant scientific articles, research papers, proceedings of the conference were collected.
Emphasis was given to compile the research publications based on the case studies as well as general
situation.
Besides the above mentioned literature review, some textbooks on floods were also consulted.

4 Ongoing Research Activities:
Studying environmental consequences of the flood is a relatively recent concept. Limited research and
case studies have been recorded on the environmental impacts of flood. Other aspects of flood have
attracted more research. Some examples of international forum for the flood research and discussions
are:
• EUROflood: Sponsored by European Commission, first phase was carried out during March
1992-February 1994. Second phase another 2 years. Hopefully this is ongoing ??
• In November 2000, European conference on advances in flood research was held in Potsdam
Institute for Climate Impact research (PIK), Germany.
• In September 10-13, 2002, in Beijing China, Second International Symposium was held on Flood
Defence where a total of 222 research papers were presented out of which 6 papers were under
the theme of environmental impacts of flood. One paper out of these 6 papers was from the
experience of Germany and all the rest were from Asia.
• Plans are underway for holding the third International Symposium on Flood Defence in 2005 in
the Netherlands.
So far the research is more concentred on the hydraulic engineering part of the flood management.
The environmental impact assessment of the flood is a rarely discussed subject, although significant
work is done in environment and pollution in general. There is a need for integration of the research
activities.

5 General consequences of a flood
Floods can be classified in four types ( Peterson, 2001) based on their characteristics of the flood
event:
a) flash floods of a few hours duration;

b) single event flood of long duration;
c) multiple-event floods; and seasonal floods.
Similarly, based on the source type, floods my be classified mainly as:

a) Rainfall flood,
b) Snowmelt flood,
c) Sea surge or tidal flooding,
d) Dam brake flood.
Broadly floods can be classified as River floods and Coastal & Estuarine floods:
a) River floods: caused by rainfall, snow and ice-melt, ice jams, landslides
b) Coastal and Estuarine floods: caused by coastal storm surges, tides, earthquakes.
The common to all of these floods is the economic, social and environmental effect.
The phenomenon of flooding is a natural occurrence, which may bring both adverse and beneficial
environmental changes. Flood is an event that generates loss of lives and properties. If such an event
is not so much of life threatening one, it will still generate collective stress and serious disruption of
community live even after a long time later. Flash floods generate sudden and massive impacts,
whereas the gradually occurring floods may allow longer period of time for evacuation and protection
of properties.
Flood impacts are evaluated on the extent of inundation in the floodplains (maximum depth and
duration of flooding); velocity of flow, and rate of rise of flood levels.
Basic environmental impacts of flood are on morphological changes along the river course. The shape
of the river valley is often determined more by the catastrophic event than by the gradual but insidious
process of erosion and deposition that takes place at flows which are confined within banks.
Morphological process is a primary factor in forming the natural habitat for flora and fauna
(Gardiner,1992). Consideration of environmental impacts of the flood regime should also include the
direct as well as indirect impacts including those associated with human activities.
Most flood studies emphasise the negative impacts of flooding. The flood losses can be categorised as
direct and indirect (Smith K et al 1998). In particular, attention is given to direct losses, which occur
immediately after the event as a result of the physical contact of the floodwaters with human and the
damageable property. However, indirect losses, which are less obvious but often operate on long time-
scale, may be equally or even more important. Depending upon whether or not these losses are
capable of assessment in monetary values, they are termed as tangible or intangible (Smith et al,
1998). Tangible and intangible losses can also be divided into primary and secondary categories.
Primary loss result from the event itself while secondary losses are at least one casual step removed
from the flood.

Some of the most important direct consequences of flooding, such as the ill health due to water-borne
disease or contamination of fertile land are intangible.
Flood losses
Direct Indirect
Tangible Intangible Tangible Intangible
Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary
Physical Cost of Loss of Ill-health Disruption of Reduced Increased Out-migration

damages complete human and daily life spending hazards and reduced
to properties restoration lives water-borne and normal power in vulnerability confidence
diseases activities society of survivors in the area
Some basic classification of the flood loses are presented in figure 1 below:
Figure1: Flood loss classification (source: Smith K et al, 1998)
Intangible damages of flood are those; such as the stress caused by an event itself and worry of future
flooding; subsequent damage to health; loss of memorabilia or other irreplaceable and non-marketed
goods; disruption to the normal way of life and possible evacuation and migration. It has been
demonstrated that to the households effected, these non-monetary aspects are much more important
than tangible effects.
The above definition does not fully account the environmental losses. In many cases the
environmental losses either they are short-term or long-term or they are intangible and less obvious.
The environmental impacts of flood can be quite wide ranging, from the dispersion of low level house
hold wastes into the fluvial system to contamination of community water supplies and wild life
habitats with extremely toxic substances. During a flood event, variables such as depth of water,
velocity of flows and duration of inundation, in combination with land use attributes, all contribute to
the relative severity of flood impacts. Floods of greater depth are likely to result in greater
environmental damage than floods of lesser magnitude, in part because more area being flooded.
Long duration floods will exacerbate environmental problems because clean up will be delayed and
contaminants may remain in the environment for much longer time.
During the post-flood phase, that is the clean up stage, many other environmental impacts can become
apparent. Personnel involved in clean up hazard workers may be exposed to infectious agents and
chemical hazards, fungal disease, asbestos hazards, hazards of lead poisoning.
Seasonal flooding of the natural environment can be regarded as a natural feedback mechanism
whereby the fertility of floodplains can be replenished and natural lifecycles continued; many fish
species, for example, rely on seasonal flooding to spawn on the flood plain ( Gardiner, 1992).
Changes on the flood magnitude , frequency or duration will clearly have an impact on the floodplain
as a habitat, hence on wildlife and other natural resources on which humans may rely.
Consideration of the environmental impacts of flood regime should then include not only the direct
but also the indirect impacts, including those associated with human activities.

6 Environmental Impact Assessment of Flood Hazards
The occurrence of a flood event usually elicits a response to alleviate losses and return society as
quickly as possible to pre-disaster conditions. It is rare to find long-term strategic planning designed
to mitigate the many facets of the flood hazard. Particularly, it appears that very few systematic
environmental impact assessment have been carried out covering all environmental aspects of a single
flood events. Nevertheless, with the exception of water and sewage systems, environmental impacts
of development are generally ignored. In part, of course, this is because floods are often low-
probability events that do not rank highly amongst the many issues that people face on a day-to-day
basis. In addition, many societies have implemented emergency action plans to facilitate the
immediate relief of flood victims, which tends to work against the development of comprehensive
disaster planning (White, 1975; Williams, 1986). Also, it should be noted that some events are
relatively unpredictable, at least in time if not in space, thus compromising effective planning while
promoting a simple response mode. However, despite these characteristics, the opportunities for
evaluating probable impacts of a given event and for planning accordingly are considerable.
Reasons for this lack of consideration of environmental impacts emanating from flooding are
relatively straightforward. Most basically, flood concerns have historically been regarded as economic
issues associated primarily with direct damages. In essence, the underlying philosophy has been one
of costs versus benefits, while focusing attention on short-term economic variables, rather than
consideration of the total range of impacts, including indirect and intangible losses. Secondly, there
has been overwhelming interest in relief and rehabilitation efforts and a prevailing desire to get things
"back to normal" as soon as possible. Thus, the first step is usually to facilitate economic recovery
from the flood and to meet the immediate demands of flood victims. The second step, it seems, is to
plan for the next event, thereby initiating a continuing cycle of disaster-relief- repair-disaster.
Ultimately, the flood risk and vulnerability do not change. Of course, society can and does learn from
some events, to the extent that some communities have even moved off the floodplain, but these tend
to be the exceptions rather than the rule (Montz and Tobin, 1997).
The environmental impacts of flooding can be quite wide-ranging, from the dispersion of low-level
household wastes into the fluvial system to contamination of community water supplies and wildlife
habitats with extremely toxic substances. On the other hand, flood preparedness activities, such as
forecasting and warning systems, can help to avoid some of these impacts. Indeed, actions undertaken
prior to the event will have repercussions on the level of damages accruing from the flood. Effective
remedial actions, such as sandbagging, can significantly reduce losses, and with planning, prevent
some of these secondary environmental impacts. Specifically, the removal of fuel tanks and attention
to hazardous wastes would eliminate some of the potential problems. In contrast, inadequate attention
to these components of the flood hazard will invariably lead to additional problems and intensify
adverse environmental impacts. Similarly, during a flood, variables such as depth of water, velocity of
flows, and duration of inundation, in combination with land-use attributes, all contribute to the
relative severity of flood impact (Montz and Tobin, 1997). Floods of greater depth are likely to result
in greater environmental damage than floods of lesser magnitude, in part because more area has been
flooded. Long duration floods will exacerbate environmental problems because clean-up will be
delayed and contaminants may remain in the environment for much longer time. The argument is the
same for other flood traits; extreme conditions are likely to precipitate additional environmental
problems.
After the flood event, many other environmental impacts can become apparent. The volume of the
debris to be collected, the extent to which public utilities such as water supply systems and sewage
operations have been damaged, and the quantity of agricultural and industrial pollutants entering
fluvial systems might present pressing problems. These findings, then, should be incorporated into

long-term restoration and reconstruction programs to eliminate unacceptable environmental impacts

from subsequent flooding. Environmental evaluation of the flood hazard, therefore, sets the stage for
the strategic assessment of redeveloping flood prone areas. Specifically, recurring losses and negative
intrusions into environmental systems could be avoided, or at least minimised, by identifying,
measuring, and interpreting the magnitude and significance of environmental impacts associated with
flooding. Currently, there is a tendency to re-analyse the economics of redevelopment in the aftermath
of an event, and rebuild with future losses in mind. It follows that a similar approach regarding
environmental impacts would provide a comparable basis for decision-making. The guiding principle
in this instance would be reducing costs related to environmental clean-up and providing additional
protection (Montz and Tobin, 1997).
Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been defined as "the formalised, systematic and
comprehensive process of evaluating the environmental impacts of a policy, plan, or program, and its
alternatives . . . and using the findings in publicly accountable decision-making" (Therivel et al.,
1992). The application of this definition to flooding is apparent. Reconstruction of floodplains is a
policy that is enabled through federal and state disaster relief funding and private money.
Traditionally, this has followed the simple economic model discussed above. However, strategic
assessment of floodplain reconstruction permits a comprehensive analysis of policy decisions, prior to
the emergency phase immediately following a flood event. Since this is usually a period of chaos and
confusion, such planning is essential if meaningful policies are to be implemented.
6.1 Types of Flood impacts
Representative sepecific effects, classified as economic, social and environmental impacts are listed
below :
Table 1: Economic, social and environmental impacts (source: Petersen 2001)
Economic Impacts Social Impacts Environmental impacts

Infrstructure losses such as Human endangerment., loss Destruction of flora
transportation, communication of life
network, water supply and sewer
system
Government facility losses (including Human injury (physical, Destruction of fauna
military) emotional, psychological)
Residential losses such as property, Displacement of people Damage to habitats, food
furniture chains, species diversity
and stability
Public facility losses such as schools, Health hazards: polluted Damage to rare to
hospitals water, communicable endangered species
diseases, shortage of food
supply, exposure to cold, rain
etc due to lack of shelter
Employing business losses, Sales Emitional and psychological Damage to natural
losses trauma associated with loss recreational resources
of relatives and loved ones,
loss of personal property and
memorbilia, homes,

communities
Displacement of business and farm Loss of social (community) Damage to scenic resources
cohesion
Job losses, Income losses Disruption of educational Damage to archaeological
programmes and historical resources.
Agricultural losses: amage of Loss of security related to
agricultural land and facilities, loss of job and income interruptions
crops, animal losses
Loss of recreational facilities and Loss of recreation
resources opportunity
Increase in operational costs such as Disruption of cultural
fuel and lost time due to traffic programmes (sports events,
delays and use of alternative routes church programmes etc)
and resources
Cost of emergency measures Disruption of law
enforcement programmes.
Increased taxes due to cover costs of
replacement, repair and rehabilitation
of infrastructure and public facilities
Evaluation of flood impacts is an objective analysis to identify and measure economic, social and
environmental effects. The extent and severity of each loss most be identified as preciously as
possible. Some impacts are primarily local, while others may be of regional or national significance.
6.2 Environmental Impacts of River Floods in The Netherlands
The environmental impacts of 1993 and 1995 floods in the Netherlands were studied by Zwolsman et
al (2000). The environmental impacts of these floods were assessed in terms of the suspended matter
composition in the rivers and its ecotoxicological effects. River floods are generally accompanied by a
decreasing contamination of the suspended matter, especially in the Meuse river. This is a short-term
phenomenon, which is related to increased erosion of unpolluted soils in the catchment basin of the
rivers. On the longer term, however, river floods may lead to a deterioration of the suspended matter
quality, due to erosion of recently deposited sediments, exposing ancient sediment layers (which are
far more polluted) at the surface. A variety of organic contaminants has been measured in the
suspended matter e.g. polynuclear aromatic (PHA), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) and
hexachlorobenzene (HCB). This hypothesis is supported by the HCB content of the suspended matter
in the Rhine river (station Lobith), which increases slowly but continuously since 1994.
According to the studies carried out by Zwolsman et al (2000), a major fraction of the suspended
matter transported during river floods is deposited in the floodplains of the Rhine and Meuse rivers.
The floodplains are moderately to strongly polluted due to previous deposition of suspended matter,
especially during the sixties and seventies. Compared to the average sediment composition of the
floodplains, the quality of the suspended matter deposited during river flood is similar or better, at
least in the river Rhine. In this way they concluded that sedimentation is unlikely to increase the direct
ecotoxicologycal effects risks to biota in the floodplain. However, they noted that indirect
ecotoxicological effects of river floods may occur, e.g. related to a change in feeding behaviour of
predators. For instance, little owls are forced to change their diet from mice to earthworm after

inundation of the floodplains, which leads to increased uptake of contaminants (especially cadmium)
and increased potential for ecotoxicological impacts.
6.3 Socio-economic impacts of 1995 flood on the Han river in Korea
Woo et al (1997) carried out studies of the above flood and found out that a total of about 50 fatalities
occurred and properties damage of about US$ 600 million. Cultivated area of about 57,000 ha and
9,000 houses were inundated by the flood. There are other flood, which had higher fatalities and
greater property losses in Korea. The notable impact of the 1995 flood was a one-time nation-wide
traffic stoppage due to the flood. On August 25, most national rail traffic, which transports 23% of
passenger traffic and 22%of cargo traffic, was halted due to flooding of railway systems and bridge
collapses. This was the worst recorded damage to the rail transportation system in Korea.
The large cities also suffered from urban traffic jams during this flood (Woo et al,1997). For
example, on August 25th when the river stage on Inkokyo station rose to 10 m, most of the freeways
constructed along both sides of the Han River and its tributaries were inundated and traffic on these
roads was halted for several days, causing terrible traffic jams in the capital city of Seol. These
riverside freeways favourably constructed in the past due to zero purchase cost of the land for
freeways (riverside lands are mostly public properties in Korea), compose a vital part of the main road
traffic arteries in metropolitan Seoul, including suburban areas where more than 20 million people
live.
Besides these impacts on traffic, numerous flood impacts, including temporary stoppages of water
supply, electricity supply, telecommunication, and temporary shutdown of schools and markets
prevailed during the flood event in 1995 (Woo et al,1997). Prices for vegetables in urban areas
doubled during and after the flood because of a complete stoppage in transportation of vegetables
from rural areas. Most water purifying plants withdrawing water from rivers were on emergency
status because of exceptionally high concentrations of suspended solids, which increased from about
20-30 ppm in normal time to more than 1000 ppm during the flood.
Besides that, a large amount of sediment deposition took place along the floodplain. The damage
incurred by sedimentation were mainly associated with cleaning sediments from recreational areas,
parking lots, roads and highways, piers and grasslands on the floodplain. The total cost of cleaning the
sediment deposits was estimated to be about US$ 4 million.

7 Chemical hazards during the flood events
Generally, there are two phases of ‘flood chemistry’. Initially, the floodwater reaches places where the
chemical substances are stored. They are slowly dissolved, but this process results in formation of a
diluted solution of certain chemicals. This mixture is a subject of many secondary chemical processes,
such as: reactions between dissolved chemicals, hydrolysis, oxidation of certain compounds etc.
Afterwards, when part of floodwater evaporates, concentration of the solution increases – and this can
result in sever contamination of the polluted place. Many compounds can be easily absorbed by soil
and thus included in the flood- chain. Some chemicals (especially heavy metals like lead, cadmium
etc.) tend to accumulate in certain plants that are then eaten by animals. Meat of these animals is then
used to prepare meals for humans – the last link of the food chain.
There are many possible sources of chemical contamination during and after the flood. Some of them
are: dumping ground, graveyards, chemical works (such as car batteries containing acid), pesticide
and fertilisers in warehouses, oil spillage from petrol stations. Household and chemical hazardous
waste from municipal and private lagoons, septic tank, septic fields and domestic fuel-oil heating
tanks are some of the potential source. Chemical factories may induce more dangerous and severe
consequence if they are damaged during the course of flooding and chemicals are spilled into the
floodwater. Chemicals released into the environment may have a variety of adverse ecological effects.
These effects may bring substantial economic, health and social losses. The adverse effects can be
grouped as:
1. Short term effects ( acute effects) and

2. Long term effects (chronic effects).
Some case studies of chemical hazards caused by flooding events are presented below, to demonstrate
the diverse chemical hazards associated with floods:
7.1 Case study: Chemical hazards, Oder River, Poland, 1997
The effects of 1997 flood in Poland on ecosystem can not yet be fully estimated. Although there were
no major chemical pollution revealed, some graveyards, dumping ground, chemical works,
warehouses containing pesticides and fertilisers and other chemicals were flooded. The reports
indicated that no evidence of release of radioactive materials was found (www.kpk.org/FC-
KPK/powodz2.htm). There appears to have done some research covering the environmental impacts
of 1997 flood, but publications were not found in English.
7.2 Case study: Spolana Chemical plant, Czech republic, 2002
Officials at a chemical plant ‘Spolana de Neratovice’ near Prague have admitted that carcinogenic
substances leaked out into the River Elbe during August 2002 flooding (AFP: www.reliefweb.int, 5
Sept 2002). The plant leaked some 80 tonnes of liquid chlorine and several dozen tonnes of other
chemical substances in mid-August during the worst flooding in living memory in Czech Republic.
The head of the commission investigating the flood damages at the plant said that chlorine seepage
from the factory could cause a disaster comparable to the 1986 Chernobyl accident at a nuclear power
plant in Ukraine (www.reliefweb.int).

Spolana chemical plant spokesman Jan Martinek said on 9 September that nearly 81 tonnes of
chlorine gas and liquid leaked into the Labe (Elbe) River and the air last month, when the Neratovice-
based plant, some 20 kilometres north of Prague, was seriously affected by flooding
(www.reliefweb.int). A laboratory analysis commissioned by Czech Radio and Czech Television
concluded that dangerous quantities of dioxins that leaked from the plant settled in sediments on the
shores of the Labe. The analysis concluded that dioxin levels in the village of Libis, half a Kilometre
downstream from Spolana, were three times higher than safety norms. However, the reasonable
evaluation of the impacts caused by this chemical pollution would not be available until several years.
Such impacts can obviously pose threat to aquatic lives and would easily be transferred to terrestrial
and human body on long term.
On 4th September 2002, it was reported (www.reliefweb.int) that about 600 litres of sulphuric acid
leaked on Sazecska ulice in Prague. Since the sewer system of Prague was severely damaged by the
flood and the water treatment plants are out of operation, thus the acid would go directly into the
Vltava River. Although such an accident was independent of a flooding event, but the acid is finally
discharged as a consequence of flood damaged treatment plants.
An official investigation of Spolana case was underway during the preparartion of this report.
7.3 Case study: Chemical hazards in Red River (USA) flood, 1997
In the case of 1997 Red River Flooding following chemical contamination was experienced according
to the investigation report published by Canadian authorities ( www.gov.mb.ca):
Concentration of many water quality variables including dissolved solids, some nutrients and metals
were correlated with river flow. Concentration of most physico-chemical variables (e.g., dissolved
oxygen, dissolved solids, and trace elements) was found to be within levels normally observed over
the period of record. However, maxima, or near minima were reached for sediment load, total
nitrogen and phosphorus load, fecal coliform, fecal streptococci, nickel and zinc. Arsenic, lead, and
manganese were generally higher than observed over the previous 3-5 years. Minima were reached for
dissolved solids and conductivity; near maxima, were reached for sediment load, total nitrogen and
phosphorus load, fecal coliform, fecal streptococci, nickel, and zinc. Arsenic, lead and manganese
were generally higher than observed over the previous 3-5 years. Minima were reached for dissolved
solids and conductivity, near minima were reached for sodium and magnesium.
Dieldrin, total DDT, and total chlordane were also correlated with river flow in 1997. As expected,
the pesticides 2,4-D, trifluralin, triallate, dicamba, metolachlor, EPTC, pendimethalin, acetochlor,
alachlor, metribuzin, malathion, and atrazin were detected at various sites. Dieldrin, gamma-
chlordane, endrin, o, p’-DDT, p,p’-DDT and total PCB were detected in the Red River in 1997 but
were not detected in previous years by Environment Canada at Emerson. As well pentachlorophenol,
a wood preservative was detected at several sites during the flood. It is thought that this product likely
originated from flooded railway ties, fence posts, bridge works, or other flooded wood structures that
may have been treated with this preservatives.
As a common situation during a flood event, oil spillage from oil storage and gas stations may occur.
Two accident associated with the spillage of hazardous materials into the flood water were reported
during Lower Mississippi river flood in Louisiana in 1997 (www.lmrcc.org/library/1297flood.html).
Within Manitoba, more than 550 containers that held or may have held hazardous materials before
being swept into the floodwaters were retrieved from the Red River during 1997 flood (Interim
Report, 1997). These included propane cylinders and home heating fuel tanks. A total of 40 containers
with some contents were also collected between Wahpeton, North Dakota, and the international
border. The contents of these containers were wide-ranging: petroleum products, fire-fighting foam,

tar, alcohol, solvents, corrosive liquids, polyester resin, flammable liquid, paint, pesticides,
compressed gases such as propane, and home heating fuel.
Home heating fuel tanks were a source of hazardous materials in Grand Forks, where approximately
1,000 of the flooded homes used heating oil. During the flood, many of these tanks broke free from
their connections and spilled fuel oil. After the flood, heating-oil-contaminated water was removed by
vacuum trucks from 726 flooded homes and businesses in Grand Forks and separated. The water was
discharged into the Grand Forks sanitary sewer system while the oil was recycled.
Estimates of the number of residential fuel oil tanks that spilled in Manitoba are not available.
However, 56 home heating tanks were retrieved from the Red River within Manitoba. Other
petroleum products were also lost. For example, approximately 15,000 gallons (68,100 liters) of
gasoline spilled from service stations in Breckenridge, Minnesota. Several petroleum components
were detected in water samples collected in the U.S. portions of the basin.
Cleanup after the flood revealed a plethora of household hazardous wastes, such as paint, pesticides,
oil, solvents, aerosols, water putty, detergents, tar and batteries, in flooded basements. In the United
States alone, excluding Grand Forks, 86 barrels of household waste were removed from flooded areas.
7.4 Case study: A tailings dam failure in Romania, 2000
On January 30, 2000, a tailings dam failure at the Aurul S.A. plant in Baia Mare, Romania, resulted in
the release of 100,000 m3 of cyanide-contaminated liquid into the Lapus stream, tributary of the
Somes/Szamos, Tisza/Theiss, and Danube Rivers, killing hundreds of tonnes of fish
(www.panda.org). Practically all aquatic life has been killed in the Szamos and upper Tisza River.
This accident affected the drinking water of more than 2 million people in Hungary
(www.antenna.nl). The long-term effects on the ecological system can not be estimated so far, but
experts fear that it will take years until the rivers will be back to pre-disaster stage, and some of the
effects may be non-reversible. The concentration of cyanide at the Hungarian boarder was recorded to
be 32 mg/l and decreased very slowly while moving down the river.
The failed Aurul tailings dam is part of an operation of retreatment of gold tailings from the old
unlined Meda tailings pond, originally containing 4.43 million tonnes of solids, with a recoverable
gold grade of 0.60 grams per tonne. Starting in May 1999, the tailings were pumped from the Meda
pond to the Aurul S.A. processing plant, where sodium cyanide was added for recovery of residual
gold. After gold and silver extraction, the remaining tailings contained total cyanide concentrations of
400 mg/Litre, with free cyanide concentrations of 120 mg/Litre. These tailings were pumped over a
distance of 6.5 km to the new Aurul tailings pond, which is lined with a plastic membrane and covers
some 93 hectares (www.antenna.nl).
Cyanide is killing the Hungarian otters that were to be used as a seed group to restore vanishing otter
populations elsewhere in Europe (www.mpi.org.au).
7.5 Case study: A coal tailings dam failure in USA, 2000
On Oct 11, 2000, a coal tailings dam of Martin County Coal Corporation's preparation plant near Inez,
Kentucky, USA, failed, releasing a slurry consisting of an estimated 250 million gallons (950,000 m3)
of water and 155,000 cubic yards (118,500 m3) of coal waste into local streams (www.antenna.nl).
About 75 miles (120 km) of rivers and streams turned an iridescent black, causing a fish kill along the
Tug Fork of the Big Sandy River and some of its tributaries. Towns along the Tug were forced to turn
off their drinking water intakes.
The spill contained measurable amounts of metals, including arsenic, mercury, lead, copper and

chromium, but not enough to pose health problems in treated water, according to a federal official.
The full extent of the environmental damage isn't yet known, and estimates of the cleanup costs go as
high as $60 million.
At Martin County Coal's Inez operations, three mines feed coal into a preparation plant on conveyor
belts through underground mine workings. Plant waste is poured into the 72-acre (29 ha) Big Branch
impoundment that holds 2.3 billion gallons (8.7 million m3) of slurry.
Martin County Coal Corporation is a subsidiary of A.T. Massey Coal Company, Inc., Richmond, VA,
which, in turn, is a subsidiary of Fluor Corp., Aliso Viejo, California.
7.6 Case study: A tailings dam failure in Philippines, 2002
Mine wastes from two damaged tailings dams and spillways of the Dizon Copper Silver Mines Inc.
(DCSMI) in San Marcelino, Zambales, have spilled into the Mapanuepe Lake and eventually into the
Tomas River, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources confirmed on Friday Aug. 30,
2002. (www.antenna.nl). An Aug. 27, 2002, inspection revealed that heavy rains impounded water on
the Bayarong and Camalca dams and spillways, eroding these and eventually causing the mine wastes
to leak to the lake below. Each dam's catchment area spans 50 hectares. About 2,000 families live
near the mine site, located in an upland area some 30 kilometres east of the San Marcelino town
proper, according to the Zambales Disaster Response Network. The lake and the river, although silted
with lahar (volcanic mudflow), remained as fishing grounds and irrigation sources for five Zambales
towns. The 122-hectare Bayarong tailings dam is holding some 47 million cubic meters of tailings
and the Camalca waste dam is holding silt and debris.The spillway of an abandoned mine here
collapsed Sep. 11, 2002, flooding low-lying villages with other chemicals and mine wastes. At least
250 families in Barangays Buhawen, Sta. Fe and Poblacion were evacuated to safer grounds shortly
after the spillway burst at 1 p.m. at the height of a strong downpour. No one was reported hurt but
town and provincial officials, led by Gov. Vicente Magsaysay, feared that mine wastes that leaked
from the spillway might endanger lives of villagers On Sep. 12, 2002, environment officials ordered
the evacuation of some 1,000 families in three villages here following the collapse of a spillway of a
mine tailings dam and continuous heavy rains in the province. Leonardo Sibbaluca, Department of
Environment and Natural Resources executive director in Central Luzon, said the villages of
Buhawen, Aglao and Makarang were in danger of being swamped with mine wastes and water from
the damaged Bayarong spillway of the DCSMI.
7.7 Case study: Ohio River Oil Spill, 1998
The spill of diesel oil fuel in January 1998 (Clark et al, 1990) raised a number of technical, legislative,
administrative as well as environmental issues. A storage tank containing more than 3.8 mil gal
(~14,385 m3) of diesel collapsed near Pitsburgh and entered the Monongahela River. Many water
utilities were forced to alter their treatment and to close intakes as the spill passed. Many communities
used bottled water as an emergency measures. Some obvious damage such as the staining of concrete
walls occurred when the diesel oil passed through the locks and dams on the upper Ohio. Long term
and short-term environmental damages were not fully assessed until 1990. Ohio and Pennsylvania
officials (Clark et al, 1990) estimated that 10,000 fish and 2,000 ducks were killed Dead fish were
found floating in upper Ohio after the spill passed.
In the 26 may issue Williams reported (Chemical Engineer, 1994) various cases of river pollution due
to fire events. They mentioned that the most notorious example of fire water pollution is the 1986
Sandoz fire at Schweizerhalle, Switzerland which seriously polluted 250 km of the river Rhine.
Similarly another accident took place in August 1993 after an explosion at the Rhone-Poulenc plant
near Charlestone which polluted a river in West Virginia, USA. In 1991, contaminated water used to
put out the fire at Coode Island, near Melbourne; Australia reached a nearby river.

7.8 Case study: Agricultural Chemicals- Mississippi river, 1993
During the great Midwestern flood of 1993, along the lower Illinois river, the middle Mississippi river
and their tributaries, flood water damaged properties and farmlands and transported huge amount of
sediment-sorbed and dissolved pollutants contributed by agricultural watersheds. It was estimated
(Ray et al, 1998) that 175 metric tons of atrazine were transported through the Mississippi river at
Baton Rough, LA, between July 7 and August 12 in 1993, although the average annual load was 160
metric tons.
Ray et al (1998) studied the 282 km stretch of the Illinois river to assess the potential effect of
flooding on the quality of pumped ground water. They analysed the water pumped from four
municipal water supplies wells. Three of these wells were vertical wells located about 60 m from the
river’s edge at normal pool stages. The fourth well was a radial-arm collector well with laterals
extending beneath the riverbed. Although concentrations of atrazine in the Illinois river during peak
flow of 1995 and 1996 were as high as 6 and 12µg/L, respectively, the concentration of atrazine in
groundwater pumped at the three vertical well sites remained below the 0.1µg/L detection limit. In
1996 a small breakthrough of atrazine was observed in the collector well water. The high
concentration of nitrate in river water appeared to have slightly increased the nitrate in pumped
groundwater at two locations. Dilution and other factors may have affected the transport of river water
contaminants in the alluvial aquifer between the river and the pumping wells.
A two-year reconnaissance study carried out by Ray et al (1998) showed that floods on the Illinois
river had minimal effect on these constituents in the pumped ground water of three riparian
municipalities with vertical wells. No atrazine was found above the detection limit at any of the
vertical well sites. Low concentrations of atrazine were found at the fourth radial arm collector well
site during flood period in 1996. However, the measured concentrations were all below the maximum
level allowed in drinking water. The nitrate content of groundwater at one vertical well site was
apparently increased slightly by that in surface water. At the radial arm collector well site, despite a
clear breaking through in nitrate concentration during the summer of 1996, nitrate concentrations
remained below the drinking water standard. The Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentrations in
river water during low-flow conditions reflected those in groundwater. However, during flood
periods, the concentrations in river water fell below those in groundwater, implying a lesser influence
of high TDS groundwater on river water quality during peak flows.
The research carried out by Ray et al (1998) indicated that nitrate and atrazine in floodwater did not
affect most of the vertical-well sites but that the radial-arm collector well has the potential to be
contaminated by river water. It is not clear of what concentration of atrazine in river water, persistent
for what length of time, will cause a breakthrough that will exceed the Maximum Contaminants Level
(MCL) for atrazine. The pumping rates of the wells at the three vertical well sites were small, 140-500
gpm. As a result, the amount of induced infiltration is thought to be minimal. Furthermore, the
presence of anaerobic (reduced) zones around the perimeter of the river, as well as the sorption of
contaminants to river sediments and aquifer solids, may have further reduced contaminant
concentrations.
7.9 Case study: Post-flood assessment of St Maries, Idaho 1996.
The Environmental Protection Agency collected approximately 260 containers that had been
inundated and were either floating around in floodwaters or were under water. Of these, 241 had been
recovered from the Meadowhurst district, 17 from Riverdale, 59 from north of the town, and 5 were
brought in by residents. Many of these had been used for home fuel, such as kerosene; for the storage
of lubricants, hydraulic oils, grease, petroleum products, and other waste oils; and for heavy duty

cleaners and household chemicals. Some of the barrels were punctured and their contents had leaked
out, while others were open. It was thought that most of these had come from residences and
businesses located in the Meadowhurst and Riverdale areas. In fact, there are numerous small
businesses that would use such materials, including automobile repair operations and activities
associated with wood products. In addition, Potlatch had a 1,000 gallon fuel tank in the flood waters
and several other fuel tanks were floating around the airport according to the reports of Rodin (Montz
and Tobin, 1997).
It appeared that no serious contamination had resulted from the flood, although some materials were
tested to see if they were hazardous. Of the 238 samples tested, 107 proved positive. Chemical testing
revealed primarily oils, grease, and some household chemicals, along with some agricultural
pesticides, acids, and paints. Quantities were variable, with containers ranging from 1 to 55 gallon
drums. Not all of these were full; many had clearly leaked into the surrounding environment. Barrels
were stored temporarily at a landfill during the flood, eventually to be sent to a RCRA facility if
hazardous. Visible evidence of contamination was not high. In places there was a thin film on the top
of the floodwater from petroleum and hydrocarbons, most of which was expected to dissipate or mix
into soils. There was a possibility that such products could get into groundwater depending on the
depth and condition of wells. Some of the contaminated areas had been boomed and absorbent
materials used to soak up the wastes according to the reports of Rodin (Montz and Tobin, 1997).

8 Human and animal health

The human and animal health consequences of any one flood event will vary depending upon the
nature and severity of the flood as well as the effects upon a given human or animal population. So far
the researches have tried to establish the key aspects of flood characteristics, which suggests
anticipated fundamental effects. Although the potential for disease outbreaks is always anticipated
after a disaster, there are certain conditions that must be present for this potential to manifest in the
form of epidemics. Human and animal health can be effected by flood directly or indirectly. Some of
these effects can be summarised as presented in the table below:
Table2: Impacts of floods on human health (UN: www.unisdr.org/unisdr/guidewater.htm)

The impact of floods on human health – Direct effects
Causes Health Implications
Stream flow velocity, topographic land features, Drowning, injuries
absence of warning, rapid flood onset, deep
floodwaters, landslides, risky behaviour, fast-
flowing waters carrying boulders and fallen
trees
Contact with water Respiratory diseases, shock, hypothermia,
cardiac arrest
Contact with polluted waters Wound infections, dermatitis, conjunctivitis,
gastrointestinal illnesses; ear nose and throat
infections; possible serious water borne diseases
Increase of physical and emotional stress Increase of susceptibility to psychosocial
disturbances and cardiovascular disease.
Disruption of transport Food shortage, disruption of emergency
response
The impact of floods on human health – Indirect effects

Causes
Damage to water supply systems, sewers and Possible serious water-borne infections
sewage disposal systems, insufficient supply (enterogenic E-coli, shigella, hepatitis A,
water for drinking, cleaning and washing leptospirosis, giardiasis, campylobacteriosis)
dermatitis and conjunctivitis
Underground pipe disruption, dislodgement of Potential acute of chronic effects of chemical
storage tanks, overflow of toxic-waste sites, pollution
release of chemicals, destruction of petrol
storage tanks (may lead to fires)
Standing waters, heavy rainfalls, expanded Vector-borne diseases
range of vector habitats
Clean up activities following the flood Electrocutions, injuries, laceration, skin
punctures
Destruction of primary food production Food shortage
Damage to health services, disruption of Decrease of “normal” health care services,
“normal” health services insufficient access to medical care.

At the end of December 1993 and also at the end of January 1995, the river Meuse one of the major
river in Europe, flooded and riverbanks were inundated. Albering et al (1999) studied the possible
human health risk of exposure to heavy metal concentrations in riverbank soils resulting from the
flooding of the river Meuse at the end of 1993. They evaluated the heavy metal contents (e.g. As, Cd,
Cu, Pb, and Zn) of the topsoil and flood deposits and the corresponding food and feed crops. They
used two different methods to estimate human exposure in relation to the soil pollution in the
floodplain. First the general multiple pathway exposure model (HESP) was used to estimate potential
human exposure in relation to soil contamination. This model relates the soil concentration of a
pollutant to various environmental media and predicts the concentration of a pollutant in vegetation,
beef, and dairy products.
Further more, Albering et al (1999) carried out research on human exposure by taking into account the
location specific data of heavy metals in vegetables grown in the established experimental gardens.
They concluded that although the soils of the floodplain of the river Meuse appeared to be enriched
with heavy metals, the heavy metal contents in crops grown on these soils were within normal
background values. They further made a note that incidentally the high Cd values were observed in
wheat, lettuce and potatoes. The human health risk associated with the heavy metal contamination of
soil, and indirectly the food chain, seemed very low. The most important exposure risks were
associated with Cd and Pb levels in soils that have a flooding frequency of once every two years. In
the case of Pb, the most important pathway was ingestion of soil, whereas for Cd, ingestion of locally
grown vegetables was the predominant exposure pathway.
8.1 Case study: Norway, 1995.
During the 1995 river floods in eastern Norway, 7,000 people were forced to abandon their houses
and the public water supplies of some 150,000 people were threatened. The national Institute of
Public Health feared outbreak of waterborne diseases. They provided additional preventative
measures with expert advice and public information. According to the research carried out by Iversen
et al (1996) the emphasis was given to maintain safe water supply, and to provide information on
flood water management during evacuation and clean-up. This resulted in no increase of acute gastro-
enteritis or other possible flood related communicable diseases among the 329,000 people living in
the municipalities effected by the flood. Iversen et al (1996) concluded that the flood did not cause a
measurable increase in the incidence of communicable diseases. This was probably due to some
extent to the measures taken to protect the water supplies.
On April 18, 1997, a flood struck the cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota and east grand Forks,
Minnesota as spring snowmelt and runoff caused the water level of the red river to rise above its
banks. More than 47,000 people were evacuated. After flood it was assessed that 80% of the 19,500
homes were suffered damages (Collins, 1997). The potential for environmental health problems in the
aftermath of a flood is tremendous. Flood related health risks included direct exposure to toxic
chemicals dispersed by flood waters, inhalation of mold spores and mold toxins that proliferate on
saturated indoor sheetrock, consumption of contaminated drinking water, consumption of spoiled food
due to lack of electricity for properly cooking and cooling it, spread of infectious diseases as sewage
lift stations become disabled, and increased incidence of respiratory illnesses as a result of mass
sharing of evacuation shelters. The municipal water treatment plants were lost and 20 out of 36
sewage lift stations were inundated (Collins, 1997) with flood water. The water treatment plants were
out of operation for four to six weeks following the flooding event. Around 17,000 houses were out of
electricity, potable water and sewage facilities. The main reason for having no electricity for so many
households was that their basements got flooded and that is where everyone had their electrical panels
(Collins, 1997). Due to the failure of municipal water supply system, the municipality had to evacuate
their local hospital and the entire medical centre too, because they could not function in the absence of

such a service. They were shuffled all over the places and were scattered up to 300 miles away. This
made difficult for their relatives to visit them for instance, which was quite traumatic from a mental
health point of view. The cases related to respiratory and/or diarrheal illness in the evacuation centre
was reported to be relatively low. During the flood event some oil spill also occurred which caused
minor health effects such as getting nauseated and having headache during clean up operations.
Meantime a fire occurred in the city although can not be established the reason of fire whether it is
associated with oil spill. Since the hydrants were under water, fire fighters had difficulties and about
six fire-fighters got the hypothermia trying to fight the fire. The airforce brought in a crane helicopter
with a 2,000 gallon bucket underneath it, dipped it in the river and dumped it on the fire, The also
sprayed fire retardant, which created problems once it got in the water that was settling all over
people’s home.
8.2 Case study: Finland in 1998-1999:
Fourteen waterborne epidemics occurred in Finland during 1998-1999 ( Miettinen et al, 2001). About
7,300 illness cases were registered in these outbreaks. All except one of the waterborne epidemics
were associated with undisinfected groundwater. An equal number of waterborne epidemics occurred
in public and private water systems, but most cases of illness occurred in public water systems. The
three largest epidemics comprised 6,700 illness cases. Insufficient purification treatment unable to
remove Norwalk-like viruses caused the only waterborne epidemics in a surface water plant. The
main reasons for ground water outbreaks were floods and surface runoffs that contaminated water.
Norwalk-like viruses caused eight and Campylobacter three of the outbreaks. In two cases the
epidemic ceased by the exhaustion of susceptible persons in the exposed community but in most cases
it was terminated by changing the water sources, boiling and drinking water and starting chlorination.
8.3 Case study: Human health risk assessment in The Netherlands
Albering et al (1999) carried out a study to investigate the human health assessment in relation to
recreational activities on two artificial freshwater lakes along the river Muese in The Netherlands.
According to their studies, although the discharges of contaminants into the river Meuse have been
reduced in the last decades, which is reflected in decreasing concentrations of pollutants in surface
water and suspended matter, the levels in sediments are more persistent. Sediments of the two
freshwater lakes appear highly polluted and may pose a health risk in relation to recreational
activities. To quantify health risk for carcionogenic (e.g. polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) as well
as noncarciogenic compounds (e.g. heavy metals), an exposure assessment model was used. First,
they used a standard model that solely uses data on sediment pollution as the input parameter, which
is the standard procedure in sediment quality assessment in The Netherlands. The highest intake
appeared to be associated with the consumption of contaminated fish and resulted in a health risk for
Pb and Zn (hazard index exceeded 1). For other heavy metals and for benzo (a) pyrene, the total
averaged exposure levels were below levels of concern. Secondly, input data for a more location-
specific calculation procedure were provided via analysis of samples from sediment, surface water,
and suspended matter. When these data (concentrations in surface water) were taken into account, the
risk due to consumption of contaminated fish decreased by more than two orders of magnitude and
appeared to be negligible. In both exposure assessments, many assumptions were made that contribute
to a major degree to the uncertainty of this risk assessment. However, this health risk evaluation is
useful as a screening methodology for assessing the urgency of sediment remediation actions.

8.4 Case study: Red River Flooding 1997
Water treatment facilities in the valley continued to provide good quality drinking water throughout
the flood. The drinking water treatment facility at Grand Forks was disabled for about three weeks
because of flooding. Drinking water treatment facilities within the Manitoba portion of the basin were
able to operate throughout the flood with the exception of the system at Ste. Agathe. This system was
shut down for about one month when floodwaters entered part of the storage reservoir through an
overflow drain.
Many flooded homes experienced mold problems, especially when basements were not completely
dried prior to re-entry. Molds create health problems for some people. In a number of cases, even
partially damaged and rebuilt homes had to be declared unsafe for occupation.
8.5 Effects of flood on food safety
During the flood, electricity supply may be cut off. Without electricity cold stores and refrigerators
will stop functioning. Normally, the food stored in these facilities will start decaying after 4 hours. On
the other hand, the food stores may come into contact with floodwater and thus food being
contaminated.
Rats may be problem, during and after flood. The displaced rats, snakes and other animals may
contaminate food storage as they may be a source of rabies and poisonous.
8.6 Effects of flood on sanitation and hygiene
Floodwater may contain fecal materials from overflowing sewage system, and agricultural and
industrial by-products. Although skin contact with floodwater does not, by itself, pose a serious health
risk, there is some risk of disease from eating or drinking anything contaminated with floodwater.
Despite of other hazards, children playing in the floodwater may be threatened hygienically. The toys
contaminated with floodwater should not be allowed for playing without disinfection.
Large amount of stagnant water remaining during and after flood will lead to an increase in mosquito
populations. Mosquitoes are most active at sunrise and sunset. These mosquitoes may spread
mosquito-borne communicable diseases.
8.7 Miscellaneous health and hygiene issues
Drainage and sewer system may overflow. Thus causing to malfuntioning of the services and creating
a health and hygiene concern.
Hazardous household materials mainly include the items such as:

drain cleaner, furniture stripper, motor vehicle oil, toilet bowl cleaner, antifreeze, pesticides, and
fertilisers. Asbestos containing materials are found in many households and public buildings.
Asbestos is a material considered to be hazardous for human health. Flood may damage the asbestos
containing houses or construction.
Post-disaster carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a growing problem in the United States (Daley et al,
2001). They have carried out a study in Grand Forks, North Dakota following the severe flooding of
1997. To help address the public health impacts of this disaster, the department of health initiated an
active surveillance system for flood-related illness and injury. Thirty three laboratory–confirmed

cases were identified, involving 18 separate incidents. Patients ranged in age from 7 to 67 years, and
most of them were men. Exposure was uncommon in sensitive subpopulations, such as the elderly or
pregnant woman.
The need for gasoline-powered equipment to provide a temporary supply of electricity or rehabilitate
water-damaged homes increases after flooding (Daley et al, 2001). This equipment includes
generators, pumps and pressure washers. Pressure washers have caused CO poisoning previously
when used in an enclosed space such as a barn or parking garage. Environmental models and field
simulations have demonstrated (Daley et al, 2001) that CO will reach dangerous levels within minutes
when small gasoline-powered engines run inside buildings.
Flooding of the wild life habitat will force the wild life to move towards higher and drier places and
they encroach the human habitat. Such a situation may pose human threat by wildlife, creatures and
poisonous insects.
On the other hand, deceased bodies of the animals, wild life will obviously pollute the watercourse
and posing a threat of epidemic breakout.

9 Plant, biology, aquatic lives
9.1 Destruction of forest

Nejad (2002) has presented a case study regarding the environmental impacts of heavy flash floods
(10,11 Aug 2001) of Golestan province, Iran. He described the situation with an emphasis on the
impacts of watershed and forest. More than 1,500 ha forest were destroyed and more than 250 people
dead during this event.
A study was carried out by Chapin et al (2002) to investigate the relationships between flood
frequencies and riparian plant communities in the upper Klamath basin, Oregon. Plant communities
were sampled with 1m2 quadrants along established cross sections. Data collected for purposes of
hydraulic modelling included channel and floodplain elevations (i.e. cross-sectional profiles) and
water surface elevations associated with specific discharges. The elevational distributions of
hydrophytic plant communities relative to modelled return periods provided the basis for establishing
relationships between these variables for nine sites. Results indicated that, on average, a peak flow
frequency of 4.6 years (range of 3.1 to 7.6 years) was needed to sustain riparian plant communities at
seven of nine sites. At two sites, results indicated return period of more than 25 years were needed;
these results possibly were influenced by local geomorphic conditions (a narrow steep channel in one
case and an incised channel in the other). Overall, these results tend to confirm a strong dependency
of riparian plant communities on overbank flows.
9.2 Toxicity of Cyanide and Cyanide –Breakdown Compounds to Fresh water Fish
Fish are the most sensitive species and impacted by relatively low cyanide concentrations (Moran,
1998). For example fish are killed by cyanide concentrations in the microgram per litre range,
whereas bird and mammals deaths generally result from cyanide concentrations in milligram per litre
range. Acute toxicity is described as those concentrations of cyanide that lead to the death of more
than 50 % of the test population within 96 hours (Moran, 1998). Chronic toxicity may be described as
exposure too less than lethal concentrations of cyanide. Some chronic effect reproduction, physiology,
and levels of activity of many fish species, and may render the fishery resource non-viable. Whether
the toxic effects of HCN are cumulative is apparently not known.
Santon and others states (Moran, 1998) that HNC ingested orally is fatal to humans in doses ranging
from 50 to 200 milligrams, about the size of a grain of rice. Similarly, HNC concentrations above 40
to 200 milligrams per litre are likely to be toxic to mammals including humans.
Free cyanides (the cyanide ion and hydrogen cyanide) are well known to be the forms of cyanide
derivatives most toxic to mammals and aquatic life. Acute toxicity to various fish species ranges from
about 20-640 µg/l (Moran, 1998). The more sensitive rainbow trout generally exhibit acute toxicity in
the range of 20-80 µg/l of free cyanide. Chronic toxic effects are reported in fish in the range of 5-20
µg/l. Metal-cyanide complexes are generally though (Moran, 1998) to be less toxic than free cyanide.
Ammonia is a routinely encountered breakdown product wherever cyanide processing occurs. US
Environmental Protection Agency reports (Moran 1998) ammonia to be toxic to fish at concentrations
between 0.083 and 4.6 µg/l.
Another example of severe impact on aquatic lives is the January 2000, a tailings dam failure at in
Romania, resulted in the release of 100,000 m3 of cyanide-contaminated liquid into the Lapus stream,
tributary of the Somes/Szamos, Tisza/Theiss, and Danube Rivers, killing hundreds of tonnes of fish
(www.panda.org). Practically all aquatic life has been killed in the Szamos and upper Tisza River.
The long-term effects on the ecological system can not be estimated so far, but experts fear that it will
take years until the rivers will be back to pre-disaster stage, and some of the effects may be non-
reversible.

10 Agriculture and animal farming

River floods are a serious threat to farmlands in many parts of the worlds, because restoration of a
flooded area takes along time and much effort, particularly when the flooding has formed a thick
sediment cover, usually consisting of mud and debris. However, these conditions vary for each case.
Field observations from the floodplain of river Filyos indicate that horizontal shallow burrows of
anelid Lumbricus terrestris are an important factor of mud desiccation and the development of large
open cracks ( Kazanci, 2001)
Wing et al (2002) have studies the potential impact of flooding on confined animal feeding operations
in Eastern North Carolina. Thousands of confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) has been
constructed in this area. The fecal waste pit and spray field waste management systems used by these
operations are susceptible to flooding in this low laying area. To investigate the potential that flood
events can lead to environmental dispersion of animal waste containing numerous biologic and
chemical hazards Wing et al carried research on three cattle, one poultry, and 237 swine operations
which was flooded in 1999. During this flooding period, 22 fecal waste pits were reported to have
been ruptured. Their studies indicated that flood events have a significant potential to degrade
environmental health because of dispersion of wastes from industrial animal operations. These
analysis are relevant to conditions in other areas, regions or even states or nations, where flood event
occur and where CAFOs are located under consideration for future development.
The agricultural statistics Service of the North Carolina department (Schmidt, 2000) reported that up
to 28,000 hogs, 2 million chickens, 750,000turkeys and 700 cattle were killed in the Hurricane Floyd
flooding of September 1999. In addition to the economic damage, the damage of livestock operations
this has also contributed to the environmental effect in the area of North Carolina. Water-borne
animal and human wastes produced nutrient pollution and raised the potential for both exposure to
pathogens and the risk of disease. Most of the flood related environmental damage caused by
livestock industry in North Carolina came from Swine wastes (Schmidt, 2000). Similarly the poultry
farms also brought some consequences, The fecal wastes containing nutrients such as nitrogen and
phosphorus as well as by-products such as ammonia contributes to excessive algal growth in aquatic
system, which depletes dissolved oxygen in the water.
The great flood of 1993 inundated more than 355,000 ha of Illinois cropland along the Mississippi
River in USA, creating great concern for the possible contamination of farmland by herbicides. Chong
et al (1998) carried out investigation studying the herbicide contamination of floodwaters and
farmland due to the flood. Their studies indicated that concentrations of alachlor, atrazine and
cyanazine were no greater than 1.1µg/L in the flood water samples. No detectable herbicides
(>=0.01µg/L) were found in the solids suspended in the floodwater. The only herbicide detected in
both flooded and nonflooded soils was atrazine, where significantly higher concentrations were found
in the flooded soils. However, concentrations were less than the 3.5 µg/kg application rate of atrazine
to soil. The concentration of herbicides detected in both water and soils were much lower than the
regulatory level set by the USEPA indicating no contamination of flood water or farmland. Due to the
volume and rapid movement of the floodwater, the potential for herbicide contamination of flooded
soils was never realised. The lack of herbicide detection in the suspended solids of flood water
samples, and the lack of any correlation between the atrazine content of flooded soils with the percent
sand or clay content indicated that flooding did not result in the herbicide contamination of soil (>1
mg/kg).

11 Soil and sediment pollution
Soil and sediment pollution is a common problem due to a flood. Normally flood water carries a
heavy load of silts, sediment, debris, gravel etc and will deposit in the flat areas where flood water
velocity is relatively slow. In case of flooding in the agricultural area, deposition of silt, sediment and
debris will deteriorate the fertility of the agricultural land. Similarly, tsunami and storm surges may
cause salt water intrusion into the agricultural land causing a long term adverse effect in the
agriculture.
Helios-Rybicka et al (1998) carried out studies of crucial loads in river Odra in Poland studying the
impacts of 1997 flood on the situation of hazardous substances. They have found out that the metal
concentrations in the Odra River, its tributaries and in the Szczecin Lagoon water samples are lower
than the limited contents for drinking water in Poland and Germany. Results of the study indicated
that both, the suspended matter and the <20µm size fraction of sediment samples from the Odra river
catchment area have been strongly contaminated with heavy metals, mainly with Cadmium, zinc, lead
and copper. The detected levels of metal concentrations were found to exceed the geotechnical
background values of the fine grained sedimentary rocks.
Their studies indicated that from the metals that were studies, cadmium seems to be of particular
concern because of high level over the whole Odra river system, and its high mobility exhibited even
in neutral and slightly alkaline systems. For all metals studies in the Odra river sediments the
substantial reduction with cadmium contamination, neither at the period after flood nor if compared
with the earlier results obtained for 1991 (Helios-Rybicka et al, 1998) has been observed. Mullereta al
(Helios-Rybicka et al, 1998) found that a comparison of sediment contamination expressed in lgeo
classes has showed an improvement for Zn, Cu and Pb, but not for Cd situation for the Odra river
sediment between 1991 and 1997.
Ecotoxicological effect of 97 flood in Odra river should be cause due to release of the heavy metals
from the flood sediments, since they were exposed to the oxidation processes, and in some regions to
the acidic leaching. Most of the Odra river bottom sediments are in the anoxic conditions (average Eh-
330 mV) according to the report of the studies published by Helios-Rybicka et al (1998). Their earlier
studies have shown that if the anoxic sediments are exposed to the atmosphere the metal speciations
will move to the more mobile forms.
The link between sediment contamination and flooding is not well established ( Tobin et al, 2000),
since flooding may exacerbate problems by spreading pollutants throughout the floodplain, or
alternatively may dilute contaminants in sources areas. To determine the substance of such
relationships, the pattern of sediment contamination was examined in a small town of Idaho following
the flooding in 1996. Four heavy metals were tested, nickel, chromium, zinc and copper in 97 soil
samples obtained from sites across the floodplain of St Joe River. Flooding history and land uses at
each sample site were noted. Results showed that contamination levels generally were not high, with
flood areas having lower concentrations than non-flood areas. A stronger relationship could be argued
for land use, with higher concentrations of contamination associated with some industrial sites. High
levels of contamination were also found in several samples taken from recreational sites. The study
identified timber-processing plant as one of the major sources of hazards including many others such
as metal works, engine repair, welding, plating shops in the community.

12 Flood Hazards for Nuclear Power Plants
Flood hazards for nuclear power plants can be divided in to two groups (Yen, 1988): internal and
external flooding. Internal flooding are those caused by malfunction of the power plant internal
facilities. External floods are those produced by heavy rain, river floods, failure of dams or levees,
high wind induced waves, tsunamis and other external hydrologic events. Internal flood may also
occur due to external flooding. It appears that in current practices in reactor safety considerations,
flood risks attracts far less attention than the risks of earthquake and fire. Flooding hazards for
nuclear plants should not be ignored at either the design and construction stage or the operation stage.
There are various external geophysical causes that could induce reactor incidents. Among rain related
floods, hazards due to heavy rain at the plant site and due to flash floods should also be considered in
additions to river floods.
There are two types of hydrologic flood hazards prediction (Yen 1988): a) the probability of flooding
for an expected service period and b) a real time forecasting of the probability of flooding for an
incoming event. In both case randomness and uncertainties of all the factors such as spatial and
temporal variabilities of rainfall and watershed, measurement errors and model accuracy should be
accounted for inclusively, not merely the frequency of occurrence of the flood events.
In case of an accident in the nuclear station, the consequence would be very extensive, although no
cases have been revealed of any such accident associated with any flood.
Nuclear power plans cannot be “switched off” like the engines of a motor car. The shut down of a
stream turbine, whether in a conventional or nuclear power plant, requires power for turning the shaft
as it is cooling down; the nuclear section must similarly undergo a lengthy shutdown for which power
and other services are required.

13 Surface and ground water pollution
Floodwater can be heavily contaminated with varieties of pollution starting from mud, sewage, decay
of animal bodies, and pesticides to highly hazardous chemicals. Water treatment plant may go out of
order or malfunction due to flood impacts and sewer discharge may directly enter the watercourse
without purification.
13.1 Water quality during flood in 1997 in Czech republic
Matejicek and Hladny (www.env.cebin.cz) have published a summary of 1997 flood in Czech
Republic. They have reported that heavy metals concentration in suspended sediments that their
proportion during the flood situation was significantly lower than corresponding averages in the
reference period of 1986 –1995, only for nickel, iron and, although in a relatively small rate also for
mercury, an increase was observed. The total loads of metals in suspended sediments were, however,
relatively very high. In inundated areas an increase was identified in a number of cases of alkalinity,
calcium and total phosphorus. Concentration of a range of heavy metals increased significantly, it was
not necessary, however, to consider it essential in view of the limiting values of water quality. Water
retained in inundation belonged to flood peaks of the first flood episode. At a number of inundated
places high concentration of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), absorbable organic halogens (AOX)
and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAU) were found, the source of which were the flooded
industrial plants in majority of cases.
To evaluate groundwater quality, they selected infiltration areas abstracting water from quaternary
alluvia in the Morava and Opava basins. In a major of cases increase was identified of microbial
pollution (psychrophilic, mesophilic and coliform bacteria) and in a number of places also of
sulphates. Decrease was identified for chlorides and in smaller extent for nitrates. In the infiltration
area of the Moravská Nová Ves increase of oil contamination was identified. As a result of inundation
and contamination of groundwater infiltration areas, drinking water supply was disrupted in a number
of cases. It was concluded that it would be necessary to identify hydrogeologically compensating
sources for similar future situations, which would be protected against the harmful flood effects. The
longest disruption of operation of the wastewater treatment plants took place at the upper Morava
River and its tributaries. The disruption of waste water treatment resulted in changes of water quality
substantially by the end of July 1997 when the relevant parameters showed increase (chemical oxygen
demand - COD, ammonium nitrogen, total phosphorus and bacteriological pollution) not only in
watercourses, but in a number of cases also in inundated areas and in some of the groundwater
infiltration areas.
In the affected region more than sixty cases of spill of harmful substances of various importance were
observed in July. In majority of cases it concerned spill of hydrocarbons or mineral oils. Release of
nitrogen during flood in 1997 in Moravia from the soil layer was not of a dangerous character and it
behaved according to the known natural principles. The flood events in Moravia represent however
the upper limit of the nitrogen release for agricultural land that can appear in conditions of this region.
Amount of groundwater being accumulated during the flood situation in riverside zones proved high
capability of the hydrogeological environment to rapidly absorb a relatively large amount of water.
The model estimates of water infiltrated from precipitation, watercourses and areas of inundation
ranged between 60 and 150 mm during the flood period in the selected pilot areas. In the major part of
the region affected by floods the regime of groundwater returned to the long term average values by
January and February 1998.

13.2 Impacts on Water Quality during Red River Flooding 1997.
Major environmental impacts caused by the 1997 flood have not yet been identified for the Red River
itself or in Lake Winnipeg or its recreational beaches. The flood’s effect on the environment may have
been minimal for two reasons (Interim Report, 1997). Many sources of pollution were safeguarded
before the flood arrived, and the tremendous volume of relatively clean snowmelt water diluted
contaminants.
Several agencies assessed water quality during the flood at a number of sites throughout the basin.
One of the most important sites was near Selkirk, Manitoba. Since this location is only a few miles
upstream from Lake Winnipeg, water quality there reflects an integration of basin-wide effects.
Sediment loads in the Red River at Selkirk during the flood rose quickly as river flow increased,
reaching a near-record maximum of 138,516 tons (125,634 metric tons) a day. During the flood,
sediment loads remained above 55,115 tons (49,989 metric tons) a day from April 22 to
approximately May 20, then gradually decreased.
Upstream from Winnipeg, fecal coliform densities exceeded only briefly the water quality objective
adopted by the IJC for the protection of recreation, and then declined to normal levels.
Densities downstream from Winnipeg, although substantially higher than those observed at the
international boundary, did not differ markedly from normal for this reach of the river. Densities of
the fecal streptococci group appeared higher than normal at Emerson near the international boundary
in samples collected by Environment Canada. This is common during floods, since some bacteria
measured in this test are native to soils and plants. These findings were similar to those reported by
the United States Geological Survey. Fecal streptococci levels were higher in 1997 at Fargo and
Pembina than in recent years. The elevated levels of fecal coliform and fecal streptococci may have
been from agricultural sources.
Tests were also conducted for a variety of materials such as dissolved salts, nitrogen, phosphorus,
metals and other trace elements, and pesticides. Concentrations of these compounds generally did not
exceed normal levels or levels that presented an unacceptable risk to human or aquatic ecosystem
health. Several compounds were detected during the flood that had not previously been recorded.
Pentachlorophenol, a wood preservative, was likely leached from inundated railway ties or bridge
structures, while several persistent organochlorines such as the pesticides dieldrin, g-chlordane, and
endrin were likely mobilized from previously undisturbed soils. A number of pesticides currently in
use were detected, including 2,4-D, trifluralin, triallate, dicamba and atrazine. Concentrations of
atrazine in the U.S. portion of the Red River were higher than previously observed in spring runoff.
The IJC alert levels established at the international boundary are exceeded if any pesticide is detected;
they are therefore commonly exceeded.
The 1997 flood contaminated many dugouts used by farmers for agricultural production (in particular,
hog and poultry water supplies) and others used for general purposes, such as mixing water for farm
chemicals and household needs. According to producers, such poor water quality had never been
experienced before.
Although bacteria densities during the flood were not unusually high for the Red River, levels were
sufficient to contaminate groundwater in areas south of the City of Winnipeg. Floodwater entered the
aquifer through both active and improperly sealed abandoned wells. Some wells were covered with up
to 8 feet (2.4 meters) of standing water for extended periods, while in one case, an abandoned well
allowed floodwater to flow into the aquifer for about four days at such a rate that a vortex formed over
the well. Subsequent to the flood, 250 wells in the Grande Pointe, St. Adolphe and St. German areas
south of Winnipeg were rehabilitated by pumping followed by chlorination. Thirty-six abandoned
wells in the region were permanently sealed, and a further 17 wells were equipped with proper
sanitary seals.

14 Miscellaneous River pollution
14.1 A 70 year records of contamination along the Garone River in SW France.
Grousset et al (1998) studied and documented the historical records of 70 years of contamination from
industrial activities along the Garonne river and its tributaries in SW France, through the geotechnical
study of a sediment core recovered from the inner section of a flood-tidal dock, located in the city of
Bordeaux, along the Garonne River. The chronology of the core was estimated by extrapolation from
and interpolation between a few geochemical datum provided by a high resolution Cs record, the
atmospheric initiation of radioactive fallout (~1952); the maximum of atmospheric radioactive fall out
(~1953) and the Chernobyl accident (1986). Concentrations of Sc, V, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Sn, U,
Pb and the Pb isotope composition were analysed by ICP-MS, in the ‘exchangeable’ fraction.
The pollution impact of a few heavy metals mostly Pb, Cb, Zn, Sn) was particularly enhanced from
1950 to about 1980, due to the activity of a mining and foundry company located on the lot, a
tributary of the Garonne river. A five-step historical evolution of the foundry’s activity is faithfully
recorded in the sedimentary record. Despite the fact that the mining activity stopped 20 years ago and
that the contamination seems to be very limited at present, enrichments are still observed in the
estuary waters and sediments. These may be due to the release of both particulate and dissolved
metals from previously released tailings in the downstream from Decazeville mining/foundry site.
Over the last 20 years, another kind of pollution by Cr and V is identified, and is related to a different
industrial origin, tanneries and electrolysis factories, located along other tributaries of the Garonne
river (Dordogne and Tarn). Contamination from local sources (Bourdeaux) is negligible compared to
the dominant influence of the remote pollution sources.
14.2 Case study: Cyanide Spill in Kyrgyzstan, 1998
On May 20, 1998, a truck transporting cyanide to the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan plunged off a
bridge, spilling about 1763 kg of sodium cyanide into a river upstream of several villages. After few
days of the incident hundreds and possibly thousands of local residents sought treatment at local
medical clinics. According to a report by the Russian Federal Ministry of defence, at least one death
was related to the cyanide spill (Moran). According to the research studies sponsored by CANMET
(Moran, 1999) concluded the following:
Some river fishes were killed by the spill. The cyanide concentration in Barskum river water was
potentially high enough to cause serious health effects at least several hours after the spill to anyone
who drank a sufficient quantity of the water. River modelling indicated that the total time required for
the cyanide to clear from the Barskaum river would have taken approximately 10 hours.

15 Modelling of flood related environment
The purpose of researching the flood modelling papers was to investigate whether there are
systems/models developed which can simulate the environmental issues directly related with flood
and inundation. Several modelling packages have been in use for simulation of the flood hazards
assessment and management. History of the development of these models varied, and reflects the
nature of the institutions from which they have been developed, the data used in the process of hazard
assessment, and the different decision-making contexts. Most of the models do not consider the
impact categories for ecology, industry and infra-structures. Most of them take national average value
for properties loss evaluation. Similarly, there appears to be several models used separately for
isolated or independent environmental issues.
Following are some examples of the combination of both i.e. environmental issues related to river
flow, flood water or inundation:
15.1 BOD Pollution in River
Yeh and Chu (2002) presented a paper in Flood Defence 2002 -Symposium in China, regarding “An
economic-environmental scenario simulation model of biological oxygen demand (BOD) pollution in
Taiwan”. In this paper, the authors have presented an aggregated model of a large-scale region of the
Taiwan Island that was developed for exploring the surface water pollution in Taiwan. The trend for
river pollution were simulated associated with various scenarios using a system dynamic software tool
Vensium, where the BOD is the index pollutant of concern. The interrelationships between economic
and environmental aspects were emphasised. According to the assumptions with respect to some
policy variables in each of the scenarios, the generation, treatment, and emission of BOD for each
county and each main river basin were simulated. The length ratios of not or slightly and severely
polluted river segments were also predicted. Moreover, the treatment costs and the SEEA
maintenance costs can be calculated and accordingly the Green GDP’s taking into account the BOD
pollution in rivers can then be derived. They concluded their papers stating that simulation model can
demonstrate the variation of economic-environmental variables of major concern and also identify
possible means to accomplish specified goals. This can help the government or policy managers to
understand the potential development trends of a nation or and area in various aspects.
15.2 Modelling the loss of live
Jonkman et al (2002) summarised the overview of methods available in literature to estimate the loss
of life caused by floods. These methods are:
As suggested by Waarts- relations of mortality and depth of water derived from data of 1953 flood in
the Netherlands.
“Standard method for predicting damage and casualties as a result of Floods described by HKV –
relations of mortality (probability of drowning) and rate of rising the water (meter/hour)
TNO has also developed a model based on the 1953 flood, which takes into account of three causes of
drowning i.e. collapsing of building, due to dike breach, collapsing of houses due to flood wave
attacks and others causes of drowning.
Jonkman himself proposed another model with improvement in Waarts methods where he considered
the probability of drowning as a function of stream velocity. Also simplified model for evacuation is
introduced. The probability of a successful evacuation of flight is assumed to be a function of the time
available for evacuation.

Graham provided a framework for estimation of loss of life due to dam failure where fatality rates are
the function of flood severity, the amount of warning and understanding of the population of the flood
severity.
Further explanation of the above techniques can be found in Jonkman et al (2002)
15.3 Accidental pollution Simulation System
A widely used modelling method for pollution transportation is a numerical solution of advection-
dispersion equation.
Shagalova (1996) simulated the system of accidental pollution and pollutant transboundary transport
problem for the River Tura in Russia. The quality of the river Tura in the state of Tumen (middle
Urals and west Siberian region) is often affected by industrial discharges from the neighbouring state
of Sverdlovsk, which is located upstream and has a concentration of large-scale metallurgical and
machine-building industries. Modelling the transport of pollutants from accidental spills is extremely
important for the protection of the environment and drinking water resources downstream. A good
model allows one to forecast water quality and to give a warning even before the spill crosses the
boundary between the states of Sverdlovsk and Tumen. The algorithms for accidental spill transport
cover the period from the onset of a spill to the moment it reaches the boarder of the state of Tumen.
The forecast is based on preliminary information on the spill and on a database for potential spill
sources. Transfer functions are used for calculating when the spill will arrive at the boundary and to
provide a first estimate of maximum concentration of the spill there.
Shagalova (1996) estimated the fate of accidental spill when there are incomplete initial data and
transport information – a situation typical of transboundary problems. The method suggested by her is
based on the transfer function technique.
15.4 Computer modelling of fecal coliform contamination of an urban estuarine

system:
Scarlatos (2001) studies the sources, distribution and fate of fecal coliform population in the North
Fork of the New river that flows through the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida inn USA. The dynamics
of this brackish river are driven by weak tides, regulated freshwater discharges, overland runoff, storm
water drainage from sewers and groundwater exchange. Extensive field studies failed to document
any alleged sources of contamination, including birds, domesticated and undomesticated mammals,
humans, septic tank leakage, urban runoff, non-point discharges from agricultural lands, waste
disposal from live-abroad vessels and/or in-situ re-growth of fecal coliform. In order to facilitate field
sampling , and support the data analysis efforts, computer simulations were applied to assess the
likelihood of the various possible pollution scenarios. The physically based computer model used in
the WASP (water Quality Analysis Simulation Programme Modelling System) of the US
Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, the neutral Network MATLAB Toolbox was utilised
for data analysis. WASP was bale to accurately simulate the water hydrodynamics and coliform
concentrations within the North Fork, while the neutral network assisted in identifying correlation that
fecal coliform and the various parameters involved. The numerical results supported the conclusion
that fecal coliform were introduced by the animal populations along the riverbanks and by storm
water washout of the adjacent drainage basins and the banks. The problem is exaggerated due to the
low flashing capacity of river according to the Scarlatos (2001).

15.5 Modelling pesticide losses from diffuse sources in Germany.
Pesticide pollution of surface waters represents a considerable hazard for the aquatic environment.
Bach el al (2001) presented a GIS based model estimation of the losses from diffuse sources in
surface waters in Germany, for 42 active ingredients applied to 11 field crops, vineyards and orchards.
For the following pathways of entry: tile drainage, run of and spray drift, the calculated mean
pesticide input amounts to 1490 kg/year., 9060 kg/year and 3350 kg/year, respectively, in 1994. The
model results are highly sensitive to the model parameters, primarily the chemical properties of the
active ingredients. The modelled water inputs were compared with measured pesticide loads in
smaller catchment and larger river basins to validate model results. Both database agree as to the
order of magnitude, nevertheless due to the scale of the study the results should be addressed mainly
to comparative interpretations with the focus on the proportions between different active ingredients,
soil regions, climates and application periods.
15.6 Non-point pollution of Ishikari River, Hokkaido, Japan
A research was carried out by Tachibana et al (2001)for Ishikari river in Japan, the Japan’s second
longest river, to clarify the characteristics of non-point pollution by comparing flux characteristics of
chemical components in three periods of one year: the snow melting period, the typhoon flooding
period and the stable period. They found non-point pollutants present in great amounts because a large
amount of suspended matter, which is contained in soil, flows into the river and concentrations of
nutrients and organic matters do not decrease in a short time in the flooding period by rain and the
snow melting period.
They have taken measurements during the flooding period. The concentration of the chemical
compositions during the flooding period and snow melting period was changing. The surface run off
components, which have accumulated at the soil surface, are suspended solids (SS), chemical oxygen
demand (COD (Cr)) , biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and some nutrients. These components
reached high concentration when the river flow increased, and flows out in large quantities as non-
point pollutants. In contrast, concentration of inorganic components became low by dilution.
Their studies (Tachibana et al ,2001) concluded that non-point pollution does not greatly influence the
water quality of forest rivers, whereas it does greatly influence the water quality of the Ishikari river.
The chemical components are present in great quantities as non-point pollutants at the ground surface
and in the soil. As the area used by people expands, these pollutant loads which are washed out when
the river rises also increase.
15.7 Study on real time control of non-point pollutants discharged from urban areas
during a storm event
Pollutant run off to receiving waters from sewer systems during storm events is a serious problem for
sewered urban areas. The unsteadiness and unpredictability of storm events makes it very important to
control the effluent and hence the pollutants by using real time control (RTC) method. Yamada et al
(2001)installed the storm water storage tank and studied the system, which has three functions:
pollutant control, flood control and water use, to the end of a separate system. They examined the
effect of real time control (RTC) introduction with the scenario selection in the study area in the
catchment basin, which has measured data. As a result, a latter period centering-type case is satisfied
with the pollutant reduction by the RTC and also at the water use tank, the best control settles COD
concentrations at about 0.45mg/l. It was clarified how to use a RTC method as a measure of the
discharge problem from an urban area during a storm event.

15.8 A model of liquid release from a submerged vessel
An accident, which involves hazardous fluid leaking from an oil-tanker or a barge-tank, can have
disastrous consequences. Although there have been several accidents involving submerged leaking
vessels, no complete model has been published that can be used to determine fluid leakage due to
hydrostatic pressure and movements of vessels (Fthenakis and Rohatgi (1999). To analyse the
consequences of such accidents, one must first estimate the source-term (e.g., the composition and
flow rate of the leaking fluid). Earlier studies were limited to releases caused by the initial differences
in hydrostatic pressure, they do not describe leakage caused by movement of vessel induced by
recovery activities, ocean waves or river currents or even flood waves.
Fthenakis and Rohatgi (1999) presented an application of fluid mechanics in calculating the leakage
of a fluid from a vessel submerged in a river, lake or ocean. They developed a model to determine
leakage due to changes of gravity and pressure forces caused by movements of the vessel or waves at
the surface. The equations in the model are solved analytically, and the solution is tested for the
sensitivity of its predictions to the variation of input data. The model was developed for calculating
underwater discharges of a volatile liquid from a vessel inside a large body of water which is either
stagnant or in a periodic motion. The model is based on fundamental equations of fluid mechanics.
The model’s predictions of discharges due to differences in hydrostatic pressure are verified with
experimental data of incident of the release of APG in the Mississippi River. Finally the model is
applied to a known case of gasoline leakage from an overturned barge in a river. In the model,
sensitivity analysis was carried out for the following conditions:
a) effect of gas-phase pressure,
b) effect of the fluid saturation pressure,
c) effect of the depth of break,
d) effect of the area of the break,
e) effect of the discharge coefficient,
f) effect of the fluid density,
g) effect of the amplitude of the barge’s movements and
h) effect of the period of the barge’s movements.
The predictions obtained in this model were in agreement with the observations of personnel
responding to the accident.

16 Management, plan and strategy
The objective of researching the literature on flood management, plans and strategy was to investigate
whether there are sufficient management plans emergency protocols and strategic plans in case of
environmental disasters caused by flood or flooding events. Generally, there appears to be quite a
large number of public information in the internet as well as publication in the forma of brochures etc
for general knowledge of common public vulnerable to flood disasters. For example, there are good
information posted in the internet regarding what to do in case of flooding, where to go, how to
arrange safe drinking water etc. However, in the internet and database, within limited time of search,
it was rather difficult to discover a single and complete emergency protocol posted by any authorised
bodies. Most likely, these types of documents are not available in public domain, including the
research data base.
Occurrence of frequent floods is a common problem throughout the world. Floods accounts about one
third of all natural catastrophes, they cause more than half of fatalities, they are responsible for third
of the overall economic losses etc. Therefore it is obvious as to how vulnerable is the society against
the flood. It has become increasingly clear that the search for sustainable and optimised ways to cope
with floods needs a more comprehensive and broadly based response from society in general or in
other words flood management is a concern of the society under flooding risk. As part of the
contemporary flood management concept, environmental impact assessment is an integral part of the
flood management strategy. Such plans should incorporate the sustainable environmental management
including the precious studies on socio-economic, ecological, chemical and physical impacts of flood
hazards.
While considering the Environmental Impacts Assessment of Flood hazards as part of the Flood
management strategies, following checklist may be useful to consider:
Table 3: Check lists of some key environmental issues:

Type of Impacts Impacts Type of Impact Impacts
Hydrology Low flow regimes, Ecology Project lands
Flood regime, Water bodies
Flow compensation, Surrounding area
Water table variation Valley and shores
Wetlands and plains
Rare species
Animal migration
Natural industry
Pollution Solute dispersion Socio-economic Population change
Toxic substances Income and amenity
Organic pollution Human migration
Anaerobic effects Resettlement
Gas emission Women’s role
Minority groups
Heritage sites
Regional effects
User involvement
Soils Soil salinisation Health Water and sanitation

Soil properties Habitation

Saline groundwater Health services

Saline groundwater Nutrition
Saline drainage Relocation effect
Saline intrusion Disease ecology
Disease hosts
Disease control
Cultivation risks
Sediments Local erosion Others Chemical plans and
Sediment yield industries located in the
Channel regime flood prone area,
Local siltation Agricultural and animal
Hinterland effect farming practices,
River morphology Mining activities.
Estuary erosion
Imbalances Pets and weeds
Animal diseases
Aquatic weeds
Structural damages
Animal imbalances
Following are some of the relevant information regarding the management, plans and strategies:
In March 2001, a report on Flood hazard Management in Britain and the Netherlands (Handmer,
2001) was published as part of the European Commission studies. In the report flooding problems of
both UK and The Netherlands are highlighted. The Netherlands and UK have very different flood
histories, although both suffered serious flooding in the post war period including the 1990s. About
half the Netherlands is protected from flooding by dikes and over half of the Dutch population is at
risk and it is no surprise that structural flood protection is a mater of national survival. The major
threat is flooding by sea, but as the country is located on the Rhine delta, reverie flooding is also very
significant. The situation in the UK is very much contrast. Approximately five percentage of the
population are subject to flooding with about another five percent protected to varying levels by river
and sea dikes. The major threat to life comes from sea flooding and considerable resources have been
spent providing protection at the coast (Handmer et al, 2001)
16.1 Comparison of Dutch and English management concepts
The report submitted by Handmer et al (2001) also compared the flood management strategies
adopted by The Netherlands and England & Wales in a tabular form, which is presented in Table 2:
Table 4: Flood Management in The Netherlands and England and Wales (source: Handmer et al,
2001)
The Netherlands England and Wales
Integration – within Flood Hazard Management
Emphasis lies on protection. Residual risk Engineering and planning have pursued
management relies on generic policies different priorities, and there has been minimal
co-ordination. There are now attempts to
improve this, but still in a voluntary way.
Residual risk management is kept separate.
With Water Management
Flood risk management has been a part of Since 1996 the Environmental Agency has had
water management for centuries. Integration responsibility for flood protection and other

takes shape in the establishment of the national aspects of water management. These tasks are
water management plan (five year cycle) carried out by different departments and there
is still little integration
With other policy Fields
Increasing Integration with the policy fields of Increasing integration with environmental
environment, spatial planning and nature policy. Little integration with planning or land
protection use policy.
Internationalisation
Increasing direct influence of international There is some international influence, this is
river basin authorities. The German and primarily through the adoption of ideas and
Belgian federal system complicate matters approaches.
considerably.
Improvement of early warning systems, Arrangements with relevant Scottish
including the prolonging of the forecasting authorities for flood warnings are informal.
period, by strengthening the co-operation The different institutional arrangements on
between national and international either side of the boarder create problems for
stakeholders. formalising arrangements.
Democratisation
Increasingly open planning processes and Primarily a command and control approach,
consensus-oriented decision-making, involving although implementation bodies have a large
an increasing number of stakeholders, recently, degree of discretion. The new national Flood
project legislation was introduced, reducing Warning Centre may strengthen the command
the number of permits required and containing and control approach.
NIMBY
Stakeholder Access to Decision-Making
Most interests represented in advisory Primarily a command and control approach,
committees; all major infrastructure works go although implementation bodies have a large
through a process of public consultation degree of discretion. The new National Flood
warning Centre may strengthen the command
and control approach. Traditionally the scene
has been dominated by experts and the publics
at risk have been largely excluded from
decision making.
Key Informal Stakeholders
Residents and other local stakeholders are The public at risk (limited involvement in
increasingly consulted in an early stage of formal decision-making, influence
planning and decision-making processes, so- effectiveness of formal procedures, may have
called informal participation. their own informal arrangements for flood
protection) , academics and consultants (policy
advice), the media (warning dissemination),
insurance companies (compensation), local
charities, public utilities and business involved
in repairs (emergency response).
Commercialisation/Marketisation
Flood management remains a government ????
matter. Attempts to introduce flood insurance
for households in the early 1990s failed.

Rise of Ecology
Fully penetrated, but it is unclear whether it is Major issue as far as rivers are concerned, but
a token or a significant contribution to flood have yet to fully penetrate the mindsets of
management; appeal to nature is a key element flood managers. (Does seem to be addressed
in the public acceptance of new interventions. by flood managers in UK – but at a token
gesture rather than commitment level.)
Funding
Funding is provided by EU, nationals, Funding is provided for at the national level
provincial and regional/local governments, (through taxes), and distributed according to
depending on the interests to be served. cost-benefit analysis.
16.2 Risk of flooding and Insurance in The Netherlands
The loss potential from flooding damages in the Netherlands is enormous. Losses in the order of 100
billion Euro resulting from sea and 50 billion Euro from river are conceivable ( Kok et al 2002).
Recently, relative small river flooding events occurred in December 1993 (loss of 100 billion Euro)
and January 1995 (loss of 80 million Euro). In September 1998, heavy rainfall occurred causing
losses worth of 500 million Euro (Kok et al, 2002). There is a strong tradition of mitigating the
impacts of floods by building flood defences. As a consequence, the impacts of floods are very high
so that insurance of these impacts can not be realised without support of the government. However,
for the government there seems to be no reason to contribute to premiums in order to compensate the
flood damages. Because flood damages mitigation might be more attractive. If there is a flood, there is
no formal agreement that the losses will be compensated by all Dutch taxpayers. It is a question of
solidarity (between the victims and other members of the society) that the damages are compensated.
In the Netherlands a combination of damage sharing and construction of flood defences has been
applied over many centuries. Recently it has been studied if insurance could be added to this mix.
Insurance of whatever form is tool for spreading negative consequences rather than removing them.
Kok et all (2002) concluded that insurance of catastrophically floods does not seem to be attractive,
but that insurance of damages as a result of local heavy rainfall may be attractive. However the
question of insurance that covers all the environmental consequence is still an open question.
16.3 Risk of Flooding and Contingency Plans
If a facility such as chemical plant or a nuclear plant or even a petrol station is located in an area that
is prone to flooding or is protected by a levee or located downstream of an artificially created
reservoir, must have a written flood contingency plan (Hathaway, 2001). Such a plan has to be
developed bearing in mind all the consequences that a flood may generate with respect to the facility
under question.

17 Conclusions
Within the limited period of time, it was not possible to accumulated all the research references which
may be available around the world. So this work is based on the limited literature review which was
accessible through GeoDelft and the library of TUDelft.
a) Very limited research has been done investigating the flood impacts on flora and fauna.
Furthermore, there appears to be a lack of research on short-term and long-term environmental
impacts of flooding. There has been very limited studies on chemical hazards due to flooding and
inundation.
b) Sediment transport is a well-studied engineering science. However, contamination of sediment

due to the flooding and spreading of any such contamination and its consequences is still an
ongoing research subject.
c) Traditionally, assessment of environmental loss is not considered important. Therefore,

systematic and scientific environmental impact assessment of a flood is a very rarely investigated,
recorded and published.
d) Normally, intangible losses are not taken into account while calculating the flood losses. On the
other hand most of the environmental consequences can not be evaluated in the monetary term.
e) There are several models, which can simulate the flooding event. Similarly, there appears to have
several environmental modelling programmes, which can simulate the environmental problems.
However, this research indicated that there is a need for developing an integrated model, which
can simulate environmental problems along with the hydraulic modelling of a flood event.
f) There appears to be flood management plans of each flood prone countries. Some countries
appear to have protocols of safety and evacuation of chemical plants in case of flooding.
However, official protocols do not appear to in the public domain, that can be easily accessed for
example by searching in the internet or in the database.

18 Recommendations
a) There is a need for establishing a precious environmental impact assessment methodology for any
flood events. Investigating post flood environmental assessment should be regulated by national
environmental policies.
b) There is a need of a systematic publication on flood environment, so that researchers, scientists

and policy makers are encouraged for publication of their works on a regular and systematic
manner. For example starting a publication of a journal on “Flood and Environment” would be an
ideal.
c) In order to promote and encourage scientific research as well as to assist decision making process,
a workshop/ seminar/ symposium/ conference with special topics of “Environmental Impact
Assessment of Flood” is recommended. Such a gathering may help to streamline and generate
future strategies. Such a forum should invite the multidisciplinary research contributors such as
Chemical engineers. Environmental engineer, agricultural scientists, economists along with the
civil/hydraulic engineers.

19 Bibliography
1. Aavitsland P, Iversen B, Krogh T, Fonahn W, Lystad A, 1996, Communicable diseases during the
1995 floods in eastern Norway, Tidsskrift for den Norske Laegeforening 116 (17) pp 2038-2043
1996
2. Agricultural impacts of a spring rise on the Missouri river, www.ncga.com
3. Albering HJ, Rila JP, Moonen EJC, Hoogewerff JA, Kleinjans CS, 1999, Human health risk
Assessment in relation to environmental pollution of two artificial fresh water lakes in The
Netherlands, Environmental health perspectives, vol 107, No1, Jan 1999 pp 27-35
4. Albering Hj, van Leusen SM, Moonen EJ, Hoogewerff JA, Kleinjans JC, 1999, Human health risk
assessment : a case study involving heavy metal soil contamination…, Environmental Health
Perspective www.scirus.com 6/11/2002
5. Albering, Harma J, van Leusen, Sandra M, Moonen, Ewin JC, Hoogewerff Jurian A, Kleinjans,
Jos CS, 1999, Human health risk assessment: A case study involving heavy metal soil
contamination after the flooding of the river Meuse during the winter of 1993-94, Environmental
health Perspectives 107(1), 37-43 (English), National institute of Environmental health Sciences.
6. Bach M, Huber A and Frede HG, 2001, Modelling pesticide losses from diffuse sources in
Germany, Water Science and Technology vol 44 no 7 pp 189-196.
7. Baur C and Tonsmann F, 2002, Potentials and measures for the restoration of retention areas: the
Lahn River example in Germany, part of the proceedings of the second international symposium
on flood defence in Beijing China 10-13 September 2002, Wu et al (eds) Science Press New York
pp 1683-1690.
8. Bayerische Ruck Special issue 16 – “The Christmas flood” in Germany 1993/94 – an analysis of
the disaster and its causes
9. Bayerische Ruck Special issue 17 – “…13 months later The January 1995 flood s”
10. Bezuyen MJ, van Duin MJ, 1998, Flood management in The Netherlands, Australian Journal of
Emergency Management, winter 1998 pp 43-49
11. Bhowmik NG, Buck AG, Changnon SA, Dalton RH, Durgunoglu A, 1994, Flood on the
Mississippi river in Illinois 1993, Illinois State water survey Division, Campaign
12. Bogdanska-Warmuz R, 2001, A study of the knowledge and behaviour of Brzesko inhabitants
after the flood in 1997, part of Cooping with Flash floods edited by Grrntfest E and Handmer J,
Kluwer Academic publishers, Netherlands pp 53-60.
13. Casale R, Claudio M (eds), 1999, Floods and landslides, Springer, Germany
14. Ceshovar R, Pentinghouse HJ, 2000, Flooding of the central German lignite mining dumps may
cause severe ground water contamination, Applied Mineralogy: in research, economy,
technology, ecology and culture – proceedings of the 6th international congress on applied
mineralogy, Goettingen, July 17-19, 2000 vol 2, 495-498, rammlinair, Dieter AA (ed), Balkema
Rotterdam.
15. Chapin DA, Beschta RL, Shen HW, 2002, Relationships between flood frequencies and riparian
plant communities in the upper Klamath basin Oregon, Journal of the American Water Resources
Association, vol 38 No 3 pp 603-617.
16. Chittaranjan Ray, Soong TW David, Roadcap George S Borah Deva K,1998, Agricultural
chemicals: effect on wells during flood, American water works Association, 90 (7), pp 90-100
17. Chong SK, Klubek BP and Weber JT, 1998, Herbicide contamination by the 1993 great flood
along the Mississippi river, Journal of the American Water resources Association vol 34, No 3,
June 1998.

18. Chronology of major tailings dam failures www.antenna.nl [10/3/2002]

19. Clark GM, Broshears RE, Hooper RP and Goolsby DA, 2002, Evaluating the influence of source
basins on the downstream water quality in the Mississippi river, Journal of the American Water
Resources Association, vol 38 No 3 pp 803-818.
20. Clark RM, Vicory AH and Goodreich JA, 1990, The Ohio River Oil spill: a case study, Journal of
American Water Works Association, march 1990 pp 39-44
21. Climate Science, Impacts of EL Nino-generated weather www.globalclimate.org/climscience/99-
0000changnon.htm 8/7/2002
22. Collins J, Environmental Health Effects of the Red River Flood of 1997, 1997- Special report ,
Journal of Environmental Health, Sept 1997.
23. Country Experience of Flood Disaster management in Japan, www.virtualref.com.uncrd/1982.htm
8/20/2002
24. CSIRO Built environment – Repairing Flood Damaged buildings –
www.dbce.csiro.au/brochures/flood/ 8/2/2002
25. Daley WR, Shireley L and Gilmore R, 2001, A flood-related outbreak of carbon monoxide
poisoning – Grand Forks, North Dakota, Science Direct, journal of Emergency medicine vol 21,
Issue 3 Oct 2001 pp 249-253
26. De Roo A, Odijk M, Schmuck G, Koster E, Lucieer A, 2001, Asessing the effects of land use
changes on floods in the Meuse and other catchment , physics and chemistry of the earth, part B:
hydrology, Ocean and .. www.scirus.com 6/11/2002
27. Dijkman J, Klomp R, Villars M, 1996, Flood management strategies for the Rivers Rhine and
Meuse in the Netherlands, part of Destructive water: Water –caused natural disasters, their
abatement and control (proceedings of the conference held at Anaheim, California, June 1996)
IAHS publications No 239, 1997 pp 371-381
28. Disse M and Engel H, 2001, Flood Events in the Rhine Basin: genesis, Influences and mitigation,
Natural Hazards –23, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands
29. Douben, N, 2002, Flood management, Lecture notes HH 516/02/1, IHE, Delft, The Netherlands
30. Dovbysheva T,2001, Use of informatics for risk assessment, part of the conference proceeding:
Hilty LM and Gilgen PW (eds) Sustainability in the information society, 15th International
symposium informatics for environmental protection vol 1 p 247-254
31. Emami K, Chavoshian SA, 2002, The holistic approach to flood management, part of the
proceedings of the second international symposium on Flood defence in Beijing China 10-13 Sept
2002, Wu et al (eds) Science press New York pp 275-285
32. Environmental and health hazards after the flood http://www.kpk.org/FC-KPK/powodz2.htm
8/6/2002
33. Environmental Impact of Manitoba Flood http://imanurse.tripod.com/eh5652.html 8/9/2002
34. Environmental impact Red River Flood www.gov.mb.ca/environ/prgareas/water/ijcenv.html
8/14/2002
35. Etkin D, 1999, Risk transference and related trends: driving forces towards more mega disasters,
Environmental Hazards, Elsevier Science ltd www.elsevier.com/locate/hazards
36. Falconer RA and Blain WR (eds), 2001, River Basin Management, WITpress, Southampton,
Boston
37. FHRC – Research themes – www.fhrc.mdx.ac.uk/res4t.html 8/7/2002
38. Final Report – Executive summary, STORM-Rhine simulation tool for river management, IRMA
_Sponge Reloeplay for transboundary river management (3/NL/1/164/991518301) – IHE,
Resource analysis, WL, www.irma-sponge.org

39. Flood Clean up hazards – NOISH warns of hazards of flood clean up works
www.cdc.gov/noish/flood.html 8/15/2002
40. Flood Hazard Centre, 1992, Euroflood: Flood warning module inception report, Enfield.
41. Flood, A preventative guide to promote your personal health and safety,
www.cdc.gov/nceh/emergency/flood/default.htm 8/6/2002
42. Fontaine TA, 1992, Contaminated sediment transport during floods, ASCE national conference,
Department of energy, Washington DC.
43. Fthenakis VM, Rohatgi US, 1999, A model of liquid releases from a submerged vessel, Journal of
Loss prevention in the Process industries 12, 1999 pp 437-449.
44. Galloway GE, 1997, River basin management in the 21st century: Blending development with
economic, ecologic, and cultural sustainability, 1997, Water International vol 22, No 2, pp 82-89.
45. Ganoulis J, 2001, A hydro-social modelling approach for flash flooding alleviation, part of
Cooping with Flash floods edited by Grrntfest E and Handmer J, Kluwer Academic publishers,
Netherlands pp 65-74
46. Garginer, 1992, Environmental impacts of floods, part of pre-proceedings of the NATO ASI on
Cooping with the floods E Majorana Centre, Erice, November3-15, 1992 pp355-37.
47. Gerretsen JP, 1996, How to manage flood waves in the Dutch Meuse, part of Destructive water:
Water –caused natural disasters, their abatement and control (proceedings of the conference held
at Anaheim, California, June 1996) IAHS publications No 239, 1997, pp383-390
48. Gotvajn AZ, Zagorc-Koncan J and Tislar T, 2001, Estimation of environmental impact of some of
the most often occurring pesticides in Slovenian surface and underground water, Water science
technology Vol 44 No7 pp 87-90.
49. Greenpeace, 2002, Toxic contamination in floods threatens Czech population,
www.greenpeace.at/tour/gateway/story/story_29.html 8/19/2002
50. Grousset FE, Jouanneau JM, Casting P, Lavaux G and Latouche C, 1999, A 70 year record of
contamination from industrial activity along the Garonne River and its tributaries (SW France),
Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 48, pp 401-414
51. Gruntfest E, Handmer J, 2001, 2001, Where do we go from here, Cooping with Flash floods,
Kluwer Academic publishers, The Netherlands.
52. Gubler DJ, Reiter P, Ebi KL, Yap W, Nasci R and Patz JA, 2001, Climate variability and change
in the Unites States: potential impacts on vector and rodent-borne diseases, Environmental health
perspectives vol 109, Supplement 2, May 2001, pp 223-233.
53. Gupta JP, 2001, The Bhopal gas tragedy: could it have happened in a developed country? Journal
of Loss Prevention in the process Industries vol 15, 2002.
54. Hakstege AL, Heynen JJM, Eenhoorn JK, Versteeg HP, 1998, Strategies for management of
contaminated sediments within the Meuse river-system, Water science technology
www.scirus.com 6/11/2002
55. Hallie FP and Jorissen RE, 1996, Protection against flooding: a new Delta Plan in The
Netherlands, part of Destructive water: Water –caused natural disasters, their abatement and
control (proceedings of the conference held at Anaheim, California, June 1996) IAHS
publications No 239, 1997 pp 361-369.
56. Handmer J, Crook E, van der Grijp NM, Olsthoorn AA, Tol RSJ and van der Werff PE, 2001,
Final Report, Chapter 13, Flood Hazard Management in Britain and the Netherlands, Social and
Institutional Responses to Climate Change and Climatic Hazards (SIRCH)
57. Heaven S, Ilyushchenko MA, Kamberov IM, Politikov et al 1999, Mercury in the river Nura and
its flood plain, central Kazakhstan: II Floodplain soil and riverbank deposits 5th international
Conference on mercury as a global pollutant (part 2), Rio de Janerio May 1999, Science of the
Total environment Vol 260, No 1-3 pp 45-55 2000.

58. Heaven S, Ilyushchenko MA, Tanton TW, Ulrich SM, Yanin EP, 1999, Mercury in the river Nura
and its flood plain, central Kazakhstan: I river sediments and water – 5th international Conference
on mercury as a global pollutant (part 2), Rio de Janerio May 1999, Science of the Total
environment Vol 260, No 1-3 pp 35-44, Oct 2000.
59. Helios-Rubicka, Edeltrauda, Knochel Arndt, Academic E, Meye AK, Poprawski L et al, 2000,
Crucial loads in the river Odra- impacts of floods on the situation of hazardous substances, ATV-
DVWK-Schriftenreihe, 21, Gewasser landshaften) 79-99, 2000 (English)
60. Hermann RA, 2000, Was the genesis flood, along with all of its effects, The result of a single
physical event? www.serve.com/herrmann/pp7.htm 8/6/2002
61. Hill JR, Miller CF, 1991 Personal injuries/illnesses associated with natural environment hazards,
conference proceeding – Hanford symposium on health and the environment: current topics in
occupational health (30th) Oct-Nov 1991.
62. Hjàlmar L Westling O, Lofgren S and Bishop K, 2001, Modelling preindustrial ANC and pH
during the spring flood in northern Sweden, Biochemistry, 54, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
Netherlands, pp 171-195.
63. http://www.compuplan.nl/english/pe-indexe.htm
64. http://www.doizy/Doizy A, 1991 Evaluation of the non-monetary impacts of flooding on
household, Enfield Flood Hazard Research Centre.
65. IAHS publication No 239, Proceedings of the International Conference on Destructive Water:
Water caused natural disasters, their abatement and control, held at Anaheim, California 24-28
June 1996 Leavesley GH, Lins HF, Nobilis F, Parker RS, Schneider VR and van de ven FHM
(eds), RIZA, Netherlands.
66. Iles J, Effects of flooding on trees, www.ipm.iastate.edu/imp/hortnews/1993/7-14-
1993/flood.html 8/16/2002
67. Impact of the flood of the century www.quantumlynx.com/water/vol7no2/story1.html 8/7/2002
68. Impacts on Habitats, www.epa.gov/oilspill/relation.htm 8/23/2002
69. Impacts on Species, www.epa.gov/oilspill/impact.htm 8/23/2002
70. Interim Report of the International Red river basin Task force to the International joint
Commission, 1997, Red river Flooding Short term Measures December 1997, Ottawa/Washington
– www.ijc.org/boards/rrb/taskforce.html – 8/16/2002
71. IRMA and NCR, 2002, Interactive Flood management and landscape planning in River system:
development of decision support system and analysis of retention options along the lower Rhine
river, executive summary. IRMA-SPONGE -)4-WP, January 2002-09-02
72. IRMA, A trans-national approach to flood prevention in western Europe with financial assistance
by European Union, www.riob.org/ag2000/irma.html 8/2/2002
73. Islam KMN (1997). The impacts of flooding and method of assessment in urban area of
Bangladesh, PhD thesis, Flood hazards research Centre, Middlesex University, UK
74. Jackson KS and Vivian SA, 1997, Flood of march 1997 in Southern Ohio, US Geological survey,
Water Resources investigations report 97-4149, www-oh.er.usgs.gov/reports/flood/flood.rpt.html
8/6/2002
75. Jonkman SN, van gelder PHAJM and Vrijling JK, 2002, Loss of life models for sea and river
floods, part of the proceedings of the second international symposium on Flood defence in Beijing
China 10-13 Sept 2002, Wu et al (eds) Science press New York pp 196-206
76. Kazanci N, Emre O and Alcicek MC, 2001, Animal burrowing and associated formation of large
desiccation cracks as factors of a rapid restoration of soil cover in flooded farm lands, cases and
solutions, Springer-Verlag.
77. Kerr I, ????, GIS application in dam failure consequence assessment
www.geog.ubc.ca/course/klink/g516/notes/dams.html 8/29/2002

78. Kim T, Kim J, Kim Y, Kim K, 2002, Current risk management status of the Korean
petrochemical industry, Journal of Loss prevention in the process industry 15, 2002, pp 311-318.
79. Klein M and Fleming M, Health and safety Check Sheet for post Flood buildings – health and
safety universal precautions for post flood building http://siri.org/library/flood.html 8/6/2002
80. Kok M, Vrijling, van gelder PHAJM, Vogelsang MP, 2002, Risk of flooding and insurance in the
Netherlands, part of the proceedings of the second international symposium on Flood defence in
Beijing China 10-13 Sept 2002, Wu et al (eds) Science press New York pp 146-154
81. Konieczny R, Madej P and Siudak M, 2001, Local flood hazard reduction plan in Poland –
Problems and perspectives, part of Cooping with Flash Floods edited by E Gruntfest and J
Handmer, Kluwer Academic publishers pp 91-101.
82. Konieczny R, Madej P, Siudak M, 2001, Local Flood hazard reduction plans in Poland –
problems and perspectives, Coping with the Flash floods – Grunrfest E and Handmer J (eds) Nato
Science series 2. Environmental security, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands.
83. Kuijpers, J.W.M., Water Science and Technology, Jan 1995 Ecological restoration of the
Rhine/Maas estuary, www.scirus.com full article accesible upon registration only.
84. Lind N, 2002, Social and economic criteria of acceptable risk, Reliability Engineering and System
Safety 78, 2002 pp 21-25.
85. Marco E, Pena JA and Santamaria, 1998, The chlorine release at Flix (Spain) on January 21st
1996: a case study, Journal of Loss prevention in the process Industries 11, 1998, pp 153-160.
86. Marsalek, Jiri, 2000, Flood issues in contemporary water management, NATO science series 2
Environmental security, Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands.
87. Martin, C.W., CATENA, Feb 2000 Heavy metal trends in floodplain sediments and valley fill,
River Lahn, Germany www.scirus.com full article accessible upon registration only.
88. McCluskey J, 2001, water supply, health and vulnerability in flood, Waterlines, vol 19 No 3 Jan
2001, p 14-17
89. Miettinen IT, Zacheus O, van Bonsdorff CH and Vartiainen T, 2001, Waterborne epidemics in
Finland in 1998 – 1999, Water Science and technology Vol 43 No 12, pp 67-71.
90. Miettinen IT, Zacheus O, Von Bonsdorff CH, Vartiainen T, 2001, Waterborne epidemics in
Finland in 1998-1999, Water Science and technology 43 (12), pp 67-71, 2001
91. Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic, 1999, Flood disaster of the 20th century on
the territory of the Czech Republic –
http//www.env.cebin.cz/publicace/3_katastrofa_e/summary.html 8/6/2002
92. Mississippi River Flood 1993,
http://list.uakron.edu/geology/natscigeo/lectures/streams/miss_flood.htm 8/14/2002
93. Monz BE and Tobin GA, 1997, Quick Response report #93 – The environmental impacts of
flooding in St. Maries, Idaho, www.colorado.edu/hazards/qr/qr93/qr93.html 8/2/2002
94. Moran RE, 1998, Cyanide Uncertainties: Observations on the Chemistry, toxicity, and analysis of
cyanide in Mining-Related waters MPC Issue paper No 1 http://www.mineralpolicy.org
8/29/2002
95. Moran RE, 1999 (?) Cyanide in mining: some observations on the chemistry, toxicity and analysis
of mining related waters, http://www.mineralpolicy.org 8/29/2002
96. National centre for Environmental Health, Prevention strategies related to environmental hazards
and disasters www.cdc.gov.nceh/hsb/brochures/hlth-sty.htm 6/11/2002
97. Nejad AN, 2002, Environmental impacts of heavy flash floods, Golestan province flood (10, 11
August 2001) case study, part of the proceedings of the second International Symposium on Flood
Defence Beijing China September 10-13, 2002, Wu et al (eds), Science Press Beijing New Youk
pp 1706-1709.

98. Nishat A, Reazuddin M, Amin R, Khan AR (eds), 2000, The 1998 Flood: Impacts on
Environment of Dhaka city, Department of Environment and IUCN.
99. Nivolianitou ZS, 1998, Hazard review of a pesticides formulation plant and consequence
assessment of accident scenarios in it, Journal of Loss Prevention in the process industries 11,
1998, pp 123-134.
100. O’Brien JS, Julien PY, Fullerton WT, 1993, Two-dimensional water flood and mudflow
simulation, Journal of hydraulic engineering, ASCE Vol 119, No 2 1993, pp 244-257.
101. Penning-Rowsell EC and Fordham M (eds), 1994, Floods Across Europe, Hazard assessment,
modelling and management, Flood Hazard Research centre, Middlesex University Press,
Oxford.
102. Petersen MS, 2001, Impacts of flash floods, Coping with the Flash floods – Grunrfest E and
Handmer J (eds) Nato Science series 2. Environmental security, Kluwer Academic Publishers,
The Netherlands.
103. Philippi, NS, 1996, Floodplain management – Ecologic and economic perspectives, RG Landes
Company, Austin.
104. Plate EJ, 2002, Natural disasters, human vulnerability, and global change: a framework for
analysis, part of the proceedings of the second international symposium on Flood defence in
Beijing China 10-13 Sept 2002, Wu et al (eds) Science press New York pp 134-145.
105. Poldevac- www.compuplan.nl/english/pe-indexe.htm 8/29/2002
106. Policy No 22, 1998, Flood risk assessment strategy, Scottish environment protection agency,
107. Qaisi KM, Ro KS, Reible D, Thibodeaux LJ, Valsaraj KT, Constant WD, 1996, Transport
process of TNT from flooded highly contaminated surface soil bed, Environmental Science
Health Part A Toxic hazards substances control Vol A 31 no 10 pp 2515-2532
108. Rahman MM, Tamai N and Kawahara Y,Flood Control management –Towards an
environmental friendly approach, source: Information technology tools – source not clear. The
authors are associated with Department of Civil Engg of BUIT, Dhaka, Bangladesh and The
university of Tokyo, Japan.
109. Ramabrahmam BV, Swaminathan G, 1999, Disaster management plan for chemical process
industries. Case study: investigation of release of chlorine to atmosphere, Journal of Loss
prevention in process industries, 13, 2000, pp 57-62.
110. Releases: Chemical, 2000, www.epa.gov/cgi-bin/epaprintonly.cgi 8/23/2002
111. Reporting oil spills, www.epa.gov/oilspill/contacts.htm 8/23/2002
112. Responding to oil spills, www.epa.gov/oilspill/response.htm 8/23/2002
113. Rosenthal U and Hart P (eds), 1998, Flood Response and Crisis Management in Western
Europe, Springer, Germany.
114. Rosenthal U, ‘t Hart P (eds). 1998, Flood response and crisis management, Springer, Germany
115. Scarlatos PD, 2001, computer modelling of fecal coliform contamination of an urban esturian
system, Water Science and Technology Vol 44 No 7 pp 9-16
116. Schmidt CW, 2000, Lessons from the Flood: Will Floyd change livestock farming?,
Environmental Health Perspectives Vol 108, No 2, Feb 2000.
117. Sediment-contaminant database
www.umesc.usgs.gov/data_library/sediment_contaminants/dataset-list.html 8/14/2002
118. Shagalova NN, 1996, Accidental pollution simulated system and pollutant transboundary
transport problems for the river Tura, part of Destructive water: Water –caused natural
disasters, their abatement and control (proceedings of the conference held at Anaheim,
California, June 1996) IAHS publications No 239, 1997 pp275-278 pp 371-381

119. Singh RB and Sen Roy S, 2002, Extreme climatic events, environmental hazards and flooding
in Kullu valley, part of the proceedings of the second international symposium on Flood
defence in Beijing China 10-13 Sept 2002, Wu et al (eds) Science press New York pp 1691
120. Smith K and Ward R, 1998, Floods – Physical process and human impacts, John Wiley & Sons,
England.
121. Spolana going to pump out remaining chlorine – www.ceskenoviny.cz/view-
id.php4?id=20020826f01090&tisk=1 8/26/2002
122. Spolana had no chance of preventing flood damage – expert www.ceskenoviny.cz/view-
id.php4?id=20020826f00833&tisk=1 8/27/2002
123. Steward MD, Bates PD, Price DA and Burt TP, 1998, Modelling the spatial variability in
floodplain soil contamination during flood events to improve chemical mass balance estimates-
www.ggy.bris.ac.uk/research/hydrology/1998pub2.html 8/28/2002
124. Sullivan M, VanToi T, Fausey N, Beuerlein J, Parkinson R Soboyejo A, 2002, evaluating on
farm flooding impacts on soybean, Crop Science society of America Jan/Feb V 41 (1) pp 93-
100.
125. Superfund Emergency response, www.epa.gov
126. Swiss Re III – Floods an insurable risk? Source not clear.
127. Tachibana H, Yamamoto K, Yoshizawa K, and Magara Y, 2001, Non-point pollution of
Ishikari River, Hokkaido, Japan, Water science and technology Vol 44, No 7 pp 1-8 2001.
128. Tamura N, Kojiri T, Tomosugi K, 2002, Water quantity and turbidity simulation with
distributed runoff model in the Yellow River basin, part of the proceedings of the second
international symposium on Flood defence in Beijing China 10-13 Sept 2002, Wu et al (eds)
Science press New York pp 1699-1705
129. The Chemical Engineer, 1994, In the Soup, Contaminated water spreads as allied Colloids
blazes, Issue 26 May 1994, pp 17-18
130. The lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee – Environmental Impacts of the 1997
Mississippi River Flood in Louisiana, www.lmrcc.org 8/14/2002
131. Tobin GA, Brinkman RM, Burrel E, 2000, Flooding and distribution of selected metals in
floodplain sediment in St Maries, Idaho, Environmental geochemistry and health 22(3), 219-
232, Kluwer Academic Publishers.
132. Tobin, GA and BE Montz 1994, the flood hazard and dynamics of urban residential land
market – Water Resources bulletin 30(4): 673-685
133. Tol RSJT, van der Grijp N. Olsthoorn X and van der Werff P, ????, Adapting to climate
change: a case study on riverine flood risks in the Netherlands, source not clear, the authors are
associated with Institute for Environmental studies, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Centre
for Integrated study of the human dimensions of global change, Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, USA
134. Topics – Annual review of North American natural catastrophes 2001, 1st year 2002, American
RE www.amre.com
135. Toxic Release Inventory reporting and the 1998 Public Data Release, www.epa.gov
136. UNEP/OCHA Assessment Mission, 2000, UNDAC Mission report -Mining waste spill from
the Baia Borsa processing complex in Romania , United Nations Environment Programme
137. United Nations, Economic and social council, 2000, second meeting, The Hague, sustainable
flood prevention, www.unisdr.org/unisdr/guidewater.htm 8/7/2007
138. Valer A, Vasilika P, Ramazan B, 1997, Bacterial and chemical pollution of littoral waters of
lake Ohrid in the area of Pogradec town, Destructive water: Water caused natural disasters,
Proceedings of the conference held at Anaheim, California, June 1996, IAHS Publishers
239,1997.

139. Vermes, Laszlo P, Proceedings of the 2nd international PhD Seminar on investigations of
environmental impacts on river basin and/or flood plain management: Budapest Hungary 5-8
July 1997Tempus, 1997 172 p
140. Wade TL, Santschi PH, 2001, Environmental trends of contaminants from the Mississippi
River Delta, Tampa bay and Galveston Bay sediment cores, Part of proceedings of 221st
national Meetings of the American Chemical Society San Diego, USA April 2001
141. Wakakura M and Iiduka Y, 1999, Trends in chemical hazards in Japan, Journal of Loss
prevention in the process industries 12 1999 pp 79-84
142. Wettig J, Porter S, Kirchsteiger C, 1999, Major industrial accidents regulation in the European
Union, Journal of Loss prevention in the process industries 12, 1999, pp 19-28.
143. White, GF 1975 Flood hazards in the United States: A research assessment. Program on
technology, environment and man, University of Colorado
144. Williams D, 2002, Hurricane flood pose risk to environment, health, new research on 1999
storm reveals, www.eurekalert. org/pub_releases/2002-03/uonc-hfp030602.php 6/10/2002
145. Wing S, Freedman S, Band L, 2002, The potential impact of flooding on confined animal
feeding operations in eastern North Carolina, Environmental health Perspectives vol 110, No 4,
Apr 2002 pp 387-391.
146. Winter G (ed), 1999, Risk Assessment and Risk Management of Toxic Chemicals in the
European Community – Experience and reform Vol 25 – Nomas Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden –
Baden.
147. Wohl, EE, 2000, Inland Flood Hazards: Human, riparian, and aquatic communities, Cambridge
university press, USA.
148. Wolterbeek H.T, Verburg TG, van Meerten TG, 1996, On the 1995 flooding of the rivers
Meuse, Rhine and Waal in the Netherlands: metal ……….. www.scirus.com full article
accessible upon registration only.
149. Woo H, Kim W, 1997, Floods on the Han river in Korea, Water International vol 22, No 4, pp
230-237, 1997
150. WWF Press Release, www.panda.org [10/3/2002]
151. www.env.cebin.cz [30 September 2002]
152. www.ips.it [28 Aug 2002]
153. www.pik-potsdam.de [ 12 Oct 2002]
154. www.reliefweb.int [ 24 September 2002]
155. www.relifweb.int [29 Sept 2002]
156. Xu S, Dang L, Li H, han Y, 2002, Feasibility analysis of wetland restoration by using
floodwater, part of the proceedings of the second international symposium on Flood defence in
Beijing China 10-13 Sept 2002, Wu et al (eds) Science press New York pp 1717-1723.
157. Yamada K, Kim T-S, Nakamura K and Nomura, 2001, Study on real time control of non point
pollutants discharged from urban areas during a storm event, Water science and technology Vol
44 No 7 pp 17-22.
158. Yeh SC, Chu YP, 2002, An economic-environmental scenario simulation model of BOD
pollution in Taiwan, part of the proceedings of the second international symposium on Flood
defence in Beijing China 10-13 Sept 2002, Wu et al (eds) Science press New York pp 1281-
1288.
159. Yen BC, 1998, Flood hazards for nuclear power plants, Nuclear Engineering and design 110,
1998, pp 213-219.

160. Zwolsman JJG, 1970, Influence of flooding events on suspended matters quality of the Meuse
river (The Netherlands), conference proceeding part of : North America water and environment
Congress and destructive water. Pp 3273-3274www.scirus.com 6/11/2002
161. Zwolsman JJG, Kouer RM, Hendriks AJ, 2000, Environmental impacts of river floods in the
Netherlands, ATV-DVWK-Schriftenreihe, 21, Gewasser landshaften) 33-61, 2000 (English)

General Appendix: Delft Cluster Research Programme Information

This publication is a result of the Delft Cluster research-program 1999-2002 (ICES-KIS-II),
that consists of 7 research themes:
►Soil and structures, ►Risks due to flooding, ►Coast and river , ►Urban infrastructure,
►Subsurface management, ►Integrated water resources management, ►Knowledge management.
This publication is part of:
Research Theme : Risk of Flooding

Baseproject name : Consequences of floods
Project name : Consequences of floods
Prof. A.C.W.M.
Projectleader/Institute TNO
Vrouwenvelder
Project number : 02.03.03
Projectduration : 01-02-2002 - 1-07-2003
Financial sponsor(s) : Delft Cluster
Ministry of Public Works, Road and Water
Management
Projectparticipants : GeoDelft
WL|Delft Hydraulics
TNO
Delft University of Techonology
Twente University
Alterra
CSO
Delphiro
Total Project-budget : € 450.000
Number of involved PhD-students : 2

Number of involved PostDocs : 0
Delft Cluster is an open knowledge network of five
Delft-based institutes for long-term fundamental strategic
research focussed on the sustainable development of
densely populated delta areas.
Keverling Buismanweg 4 Tel: +31-15-269 37 93

Postbus 69 Fax: +31-15-269 37 99
2600 AB Delft info@delftcluster.nl
The Netherlands www.delftcluster.nl

Theme Managementteam: Ground and Construction
Name Organisation
Prof. J.K. Vrijling Delft University of Technology
Ir. E.O.F. Calle GeoDelft
Prof. A.C.W.M. Vrouwenvelder TNO
Projectgroup
During the execution of the project the researchteam included:
Name Organisation
Prof. Ir. A.C.W.M. Vrouwenvelder TNO
Dr. Ir. P.H. Waarts TNO
Ir. J.E.A. Reinders TNO
Dr. E.E. van der Hoek GeoDelft
Ir. S.N. Jonkman RWS-DWW
Ir. K. Heynert WL | Delft Hydraulics
Prof. A. van der Veen Twente University
Ir. L.C.P.M. Stuyt Alterra
Ir. M. de Muinck Keizer Delphiro/CSO
Other Involved personnel
The realisation of this report involved:
Name Organisation
1 K.P. Gautam GeoDelft
2 E.E. van der Hoek GeoDelft
3 M.P. Bontenbal GeoDelft

Citatie 94

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Citatie 94

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Citatie 94

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Title:

Literature Study on Environmental Impact of Floods

Author: K.P. Gautam Institute: GeoDelft

Keywords (3-5) : Inundation, Flood, Environment, Impact, Modelling

Report Type : Intermediary report or study

DUP-publication Type : DUP Standard

Conditions of (re-)use of this publication

PROJ ECT NAME: Flood consequences P R O J E C T C O D E : 02.03.03

Date: June 2003 p. 2

Systematic, scientific approaches to identifying and mitigating environmental impacts of flood

PROJ ECT NAME: Flood consequences P R O J E C T C O D E : 02.03.03

Date: June 2003 p. 3

Literature Study on Environmental Impact of Floods .......................................................................1

2 Objective of the study ................................................................................................................10

3 Research Methodology ..............................................................................................................11

4 Ongoing Research Activities: ....................................................................................................12

5 General consequences of a flood ...............................................................................................13

6 Environmental Impact Assessment of Flood Hazards............................................................15

7 Chemical hazards during the flood events...............................................................................19

8 Human and animal health.........................................................................................................25

9 Plant, biology, aquatic lives.......................................................................................................30

10 Agriculture and animal farming...............................................................................................31

Date: June 2003 p. 4

11 Soil and sediment pollution .......................................................................................................32

12 Flood Hazards for Nuclear Power Plants ................................................................................33

13 Surface and ground water pollution.........................................................................................34

14 Miscellaneous River pollution...................................................................................................36

15 Modelling of flood related environment..................................................................................37

16 Management, plan and strategy................................................................................................41

General Appendix: Delft Cluster Research Programme Information ............................................56

Date: June 2003 p. 5

1.2 Historical background

Some examples of Flooding:

2002: Germany, Czech Republic, Austria

Date: June 2003 p. 6

2002: China, India, Bangladesh

1991, 1994, 1995 and 1996: China

1987: South Africa

1982 and 1983: Peru

Date: June 2003 p. 7

1970 and 1991: Bangladesh

1966: Florence (Italy)

1962: Hamburg, Germany

Date: June 2003 p. 8

1953: The Netherlands, Belgium and England

Date: June 2003 p. 9

2 Objective of the study

Date: June 2003 p. 10

• General environmental consequences

• Cambridge Scientific Abstracts (CSA)

Date: June 2003 p. 11

4 Ongoing Research Activities:

Date: June 2003 p. 12

5 General consequences of a flood

a) flash floods of a few hours duration;

Similarly, based on the source type, floods my be classified mainly as:

Date: June 2003 p. 13

Tangible Intangible Tangible Intangible

Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary Primary Secondary