UNESCO-IHE INSTITUTE FOR WATER EDUCATION Comparative Study of Flood Risk Management and Land Use in the Deltas of Rhine River, Yellow River and Mississippi River Huang Bo Ma Guangzhou MSc Thesis WSE-HE-LWD-07.11 April 2007 Comparative Study of Flood Risk Management and Land Use in the Deltas of Rhine River, Yellow River and Mississippi River Master of Science Thesis by Huang Bo Ma Guangzhou Supervisors Prof. E. Schultz, PhD, MSc (UNESCO-IHE) W.J.M. Snijders MSc (RWS) L. G. Hayde, PhD, MSc (UNESCO-IHE) Examination committee Prof. E. Schultz, PhD, MSc (UNESCO-IHE) W.J.M. Snijders, MSc (RWS) D. de Bruin, MSc (retired RWS) L. G. Hayde, PhD, MSc (UNESCO-IHE) This research is done for the partial fulfilment of requirements for the Master of Science degree at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands Delft April, 2007 The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this study do neither necessarily reflect the views of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, nor of the individual members of the MSc committee, nor of their respective employers. Abstract The Rhine River in the Netherlands, the Yellow River in China and the Mississippi River in the U.S. are three great rivers in the world. Each of them is performing a significant role in the country. The delta area for each river, in particular, is served as the centre in importance and commonly the most developed region in the whole river basin. These three deltas are not excepted. All of them are the economic and cultural centre either in the district or in the whole country and all have a big harbour. However, because of the special location, near the sea and the river passing through, the delta area is always threatened both by river flood and the storm surge or hurricane. As a result, flood risk management is the main task for the local people and the government. The objective of our study is focused on the flood risk management and land use in these three deltas, and a comparison is made on several aspects: physical, socio-economical, technical, organizational and institutional, legal and policy. First we would put forward the main problems on flood risk management existing in each region, then make an analysis for each problem, after that come up with possible solutions, at last a comparison between three deltas is discussed and recommendation is followed. The whole report is composed by five parts, part A, B and C are separated for each delta. It includes the problems, analysis of the problems and possible solutions; part D and E are comparisons and recommendation respectively. The problems existing in each delta are similar in some extent or in a certain scope. The common problems are high flood from the river, storm surge (hurricane) from sea, land subsidence and land loss, coastal erosion, sea level rise, etc. In each delta area, there are common or special reasons for different problems and traditional or peculiar measures are carried out in problem addressing. These measures are very valuable for each other, and could be learned from their experience and lessons. Keywords River delta, flood risk, problems analysis, comparison, recommendation Acknowledgements Firstly, we would like to express our sincere thanks and appreciation to Prof. Schultz. He introduced this interesting topic to us, gave us very valuable suggestion and help during proposal-making and research periods. Especially, the encouragement in the last minutes promotes us to successfully finish the final report in time. Secondly, we want to say thanks to our external supervisor Mr. Mr. W.J.M. Snijders. His continuous support and wonderful inspiration really help us move towards right track. He and his organization funds our US journey and give us chances to see New Orleans. Thirdly, we would like to appreciate Dr. L.G. Hayde for his guidance and providing us with so much excellent assistance to pursue our study. Additionally, we want to thank Haley Winer from US the Army Corps of Engineers. During our research we went to New Orleans for data collection, where we received his great help. It is him to guide and drive us to see the main flood protection engineering works and provide much important information about flood management in Mississippi River Delta. In the meanwhile, we had good opportunities to discuss with Mr. D de Bruin (retired from RWS), Prof. Battjes from TU Delft, Mr. Jos Dijkman from Delft Hydraulics, Bas Jonkman from RWS, and Mr.Edmond Russo from Army Corps of Engineers. We thank them for their suggestions and providing the vital information and materials. The last but not least, we should thank Yellow River Conservancy Commission and our colleagues who are studying with us in IHE. YRCC gave us the opportunities to promote ourselves. Netherlands is a beautiful and friendly country. Nice environment and friendly people gave us enjoyable stay. We thank all and all nice things. Table of contents Abstract Acknowledgements Introduction 1 Context of the study.................................................................................................11 1.1 Natural and social-economic changes in coastal area............................................11 1.2 Needs for alternative options of regional development.........................................11 1.3 Interest of comparison of three regions in different countries...............................11 2 The current practices and future perspective in three regions ...........................12 2.1 Rhine River Delta ..................................................................................................12 2.2 Mississippi River Delta..........................................................................................12 2.3 Yellow River Delta ................................................................................................13 3 Set-up of the study ...................................................................................................14 4 Objectives of the study ............................................................................................15 5 Methodology.............................................................................................................15 Part A: Yellow River Delta 1 Introduction..............................................................................................................19 1.1 The Yellow River.................................................................................................19 1.2 Yellow River Delta ..............................................................................................20 1.3 Social-economic development in Delta ...............................................................22 2 Main problems on flood risk management............................................................23 2.1 Relatively instability of the river course..............................................................23 2.2 Continuous sedimentation and imperfect flood defense works...........................24 2.3 Storm surge hazard and disintegrated defense system.........................................25 2.4 Land loss..............................................................................................................26 2.5 Competition between different interests in terms of land use and management .27 3 Analysis of the problems .........................................................................................28 3.1 The characteristics of water and sediment...........................................................28 3.2 The sedimentation in the Lower Yellow River and the delta area.......................30 3.3 Decrease of water and silt inflow to delta in recent years ...................................32 3.4 Regional development and land use changes ......................................................34 3.5 Flood risk in the Lower Yellow River and the delta area....................................39 3.6 Risk analysis of storm surge hazard ....................................................................41 3.7 Flood control engineering system in the Lower Yellow River and Delta ........48 3.8 Institutional aspects..............................................................................................54 4 Possible solutions......................................................................................................58 4.1 Sediment reduction.............................................................................................58 4.2 Alternatives of extending the running life for current course.............................66 4.3 Spare course plan................................................................................................77 4.4 Reinforcement of the river dykes and improvement of river training works ......81 4.5 Land use management .........................................................................................81 4.6 Storm surge prevention system............................................................................82 4.7 Improvement of the organizational and managing regime ..................................84 Reference ........................................................................................................................87 Part B: Rhine River Delta 1 Introduction..............................................................................................................91 1.1 The Rhine............................................................................................................91 1.2 The Rhine Delta..................................................................................................93