title: Are we preventing flood damage eco-efficiently? An integrated method applied to post-disaster emergency actions.
abstract: Flood damage results in economic and environmental losses in the society, but flood prevention also entails an initial investment in infrastructure. This study presents an integrated eco-efficiency approach for assessing flood prevention and avoided damage. We focused on ephemeral streams in the Maresme region (Catalonia, Spain), which is an urbanized area affected by damaging torrential events. Our goal was to determine the feasibility of post-disaster emergency actions implemented after a major event through an integrated hydrologic, environmental and economic approach. Life cycle assessment (LCA) and costing (LCC) were used to determine the eco-efficiency of these actions, and their net impact and payback were calculated by integrating avoided flood damage. Results showed that the actions effectively reduced damage generation when compared to the registered water flows and rainfall intensities. The eco-efficiency of the emergency actions resulted in 1.2kgCO2eq. per invested euro. When integrating the avoided damage into the initial investment, negative net impacts were obtained (e.g., -5.2E+05€ and -2.9E+04kgCO2eq. per event), which suggests that these interventions contributed with environmental and economic benefits to the society. The economic investment was recovered in two years, whereas the design could be improved to reduce their environmental footprint, which is recovered in 25years. Our method and results highlight the effects of integrating the environmental and economic consequences of decisions at an urban scale and might help the administration and insurance companies in the design of prevention plans and climate change adaptation.
authors.affiliation: Sostenipra (ICTA-IRTA-Inèdit; 2014 SGR 1412) Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA; Unidad de excelencia "María de Maeztu" (MDM-2015-0552)), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici ICTA-ICP, Carrer de les Columnes, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: anna.petit@uab.cat.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petit-Boix
authors.affiliation: Interuniversity Institute of Geography, Universidad de Alicante, Edificio de Institutos Universitarios, Apartado de Correos, 99, 03080 Alicante, Spain.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arahuetes
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, UPC-Camins BarcelonaTECH, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Jordi Girona 1-3, Building D2, Barcelona, Spain; Institute of Sustainability (IS.UPC), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC-BarcelonaTech), Jordi Girona 31, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Josa
authors.affiliation: Sostenipra (ICTA-IRTA-Inèdit; 2014 SGR 1412) Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA; Unidad de excelencia "María de Maeztu" (MDM-2015-0552)), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici ICTA-ICP, Carrer de les Columnes, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Xarxa de Referència en Biotecnologia (XRB), School of Engineering (ETSE), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Campus of the UAB, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rieradevall
authors.affiliation: Sostenipra (ICTA-IRTA-Inèdit; 2014 SGR 1412) Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA; Unidad de excelencia "María de Maeztu" (MDM-2015-0552)), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Edifici ICTA-ICP, Carrer de les Columnes, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering, Xarxa de Referència en Biotecnologia (XRB), School of Engineering (ETSE), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Campus of the UAB, Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), 08193 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Gabarrell
keywords: Climate change; Damage prevention; Life cycle assessment; Life cycle costing; Risk management