Abstract
The risk of flooding on the Spanish Mediterranean coast is a constant threat whose importance has progressively increased in recent decades despite the enormous efforts made to mitigate it. Of the two strategies practiced to reduce the effects of this danger, structural measures have prevailed to a great degree over non-structural ones during this period of increased risk. Here, these works carried out from the beginning of the 20th century to the present are cataloged, with a double objective: (i) to show the evolution of the number of infrastructures, their typology, and their distribution on the Mediterranean coastline; and (ii) to evaluate whether the basins with and without a dam have followed differing trends in the occupation of floodplains to show the persistence of the “escalator effect”. The results obtained indicate that there is no statistically significant difference between the occupation of the floodplainsby basins with and without a dam for the Return Periods (RP) 50, 100, and 500 years. However, for RP10, there is a higher occupation by basins with a dam.
Highlights
The risk of flooding on the Spanish Mediterranean coast is a constant threat whose importance has progressively increased in recent decades despite the enormous efforts made to mitigate it
The problem is more complex than it seems to be and, to a large extent, it is related to the degree of perception of hazard and the purpose of the measures already mentioned
Based on all the above, the objectives proposed for this work were the following: (i) to catalog, geolocate, and date the structural measures aimed at mitigating the risk of flooding on the Spanish Mediterranean coast that are working, and (ii) to determine if a significant difference exists between the hydrographic basins regulated by dams and those that are not, in the trend followed in the occupation of floodplains from the construction of a dam to the present
Summary
The scientific approach and formulas against the hazards of flooding have evolved substantially in recent years, from a technocratic and applied position of responding to problems to a more social one. Some scientific studies (White, 1958, 1973; Montz and Gruntfest, 1986) show convincing results that reveal the limited effectiveness of structural measures to stop the increase in economic losses associated with the floods and the need to reflect on and reformulate the way to tackle the danger Later work, such as that of Parker (1995), tried to respond to this trend and concluded that the false sense of security derived from said engineering measures would only have increased the risk exposure, since it encouraged the occupation of floodplains that until had not been altered by humans. Based on all the above, the objectives proposed for this work were the following: (i) to catalog, geolocate, and date the structural measures aimed at mitigating the risk of flooding on the Spanish Mediterranean coast that are working, and (ii) to determine if a significant difference exists between the hydrographic basins regulated by dams and those that are not, in the trend followed in the occupation of floodplains from the construction of a dam to the present
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