Waffles are not just for breakfast anymore: The economics of mitigating flood risks through temporary water storage on agricultural land in the Red River Basin

Excerpt

When is a “natural” disaster not natural? This is not a trick question. The answer is straightforward. And in light of recent catastrophic weather events as Hurricane Katrina, it is even all too apparent. What we colloquially call natural disasters—events that wreak great social and economic cost—are today often predictable, suggesting their impacts on society may be preventable.

Flooding from extreme weather events illustrates this point. Between 1965 and 2000, nearly half of all presidential disaster declarations involved floods. A preponderance of these occurred in a minute fraction of the nation's watersheds and counties (Figure 1). We cannot yet prevent extreme weather events from occurring. But most of what ultimately happens on the land can be affected by what we do before and after the event. Humans have extensively modified the natural landscape, thereby often amplifying the social and environmental impacts of extreme weather events on communities and the environment. Agriculture and urban sprawl with its associated development impair the natural tendency of the land to slow down, store, or dissipate the resulting water—an important ecosystem service or natural amenity that economically benefits human society. Reducing the natural resilience of …