High Flood Risk Research Articles

Flood disaster risk mapping in the Lower Mono River Basin in Togo, West Africa

Flooding is the most devastating hydro-meteorological hazard in Togo. For instance, communities in the Lower Mono River Basin needs attention because they suffer the impacts almost every year. This paper focused on assessment and mapping of social flood risk in the Lower Mono River Basin, West Africa. The study combined GIS, Remote Sensing, and indicator-based flood risk assessment techniques in mapping flood disaster risk. The Risk Assessment Framework of Davidson (1997) and Bolin et al. (2003) that comprises Hazard, Exposure, Vulnerability and Capacity was adopted for the study. The resultant risk map shows that all the communities are exposed to flood risk but particular ones such as Agbanakin, Azime Dossou and Togbavi are found in areas with relatively high flood risk levels. Positive attitude towards early action and early warning systems, collaboration among disaster relief institutions and appropriate building codes are recommended for reduction of flooding disaster risk.

Flood risk assessment in selected communes of the Łódź region

The aim of the article is to assess the present level of land development of flood risk areas in selected communes of the Łódź province in the context of potential negative consequences for people, the natural environment, cultural heritage and economic operations. The research includes urban as well as urban and rural communes (9 communes in total) of the Łódź province which display high and very high flood risk levels according to the methodology used in Flood protection operating plan for the Łódź province from 2013 ( Plan operacyjny… 2013). Uniejów and Warta have the highest synthetic flood risk levels due to the surface occupied by buildings and areas assigned to individual risk categories. In turn, Łowicz and Tomaszów Mazowiecki (town) display the highest general flood risk level due to diversification of buildings and areas of individual risk categories.

Analysis of the Hazard, Vulnerability, and Exposure to the Risk of Flooding (Alba de Yeltes, Salamanca, Spain)

The present work has developed a method using GIS technology to evaluate the danger, vulnerability, and exposure to the risk of flooding in the Alba de Yeltes area (Salamanca, Spain). It is a non-structural measure for the prevention and mitigation of the risk of extraordinary flooding. After completing a full analysis of the physical environment (climate, geology, geomorphology, hydrology, hydrogeology, and land use), hydrological-hydraulic modeling was carried out using the GeoHecRas river analysis software. The results obtained from the analysis and the models have generated a danger map that facilitates the efficient evaluation of the spatial distribution of the different severity parameters (depth of the watersheet, current flow rate, and flood-prone areas). Also, map algebra and the databases associated with GIS tools, together with the vulnerability and exposure cartography, have allowed the risk to be analyzed in an integrate manner and the production of an environmental diagnostic map. The results of this study propose that there are inhabited areas close to the Yeltes-Morasverdes riverbed that have a high risk of flooding, indicating the need for proper land planning and the implementation of a series of measures that will help to reduce the risk of flooding and its impact.

Flood and groundwater management for the mountain plateau of Omalos based on geoinformatics techniques

A viable approach for flood and groundwater management in a mountain Plateau based on geoinformatics techniques is presented in this work. The proposed water management plan has two components: (a) the determination of the flood-hazard areas, and (b) the estimation of groundwater flow. For the first component, six factors were considered in order to estimate the spatial distribution of the flood hazardous areas: elevation, slope, land use, rainfall intensity, geology, and flow accumulation, The study area was divided into five regions characterized by different degrees of flood hazard ranging from very low to very high. The produced map of flood-hazard areas identifies the areas at high risk of flooding. The second component includes a groundwater management approach for estimating groundwater flow and the potential contamination risk. The proposed methodology can be used to objectively compare different scenarios based on anthropogenic interventions that can affect the flood-prone areas or the groundwater flow dynamic. All these approaches were applied at the Omalos Plateau in the White Mountains of Crete in Greece.

Diversity of rice cropping systems and organic rice adoption in agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood in Cambodia

In Cambodia, 85% of farmers are rice producers. Organic rice production has been adopted, with non-government organisation support and certifications, to improve farmers' revenue for sustainable rural development. This study aims to define the constraints of organic rice adoption in an agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood. Using agrarian system diagnosis and analysis, it is found in the study that organic rice gives high value-added per hectare but low value-added per family labour because of the less non-flooded surface available to avoid chemical contamination, to enlarge organic rice surface. Moreover, organic farmers face lower social status because organic production practices are viewed as old-fashioned tools use by the poor farmers and that will not help them escape poverty. Another institutional constraint is that organic farmers face late payment from their cooperative until the rice is on-sold. This study finds that the price premium for organic rice is not high enough to induce adoption of this cropping practice. However, organic farmers are well trained, produce high-quality rice and are model farmers who participate in policy-making events, which encourage them to continue to produce organic rice.

Diversity of rice cropping systems and organic rice adoption in agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood in Cambodia

In Cambodia, 85% of farmers are rice producers. Organic rice production has been adopted, with non-government organisation support and certifications, to improve farmers' revenue for sustainable rural development. This study aims to define the constraints of organic rice adoption in an agro-ecosystem with high risk of flood. Using agrarian system diagnosis and analysis, it is found in the study that organic rice gives high value-added per hectare but low value-added per family labour because of the less non-flooded surface available to avoid chemical contamination, to enlarge organic rice surface. Moreover, organic farmers face lower social status because organic production practices are viewed as old-fashioned tools use by the poor farmers and that will not help them escape poverty. Another institutional constraint is that organic farmers face late payment from their cooperative until the rice is on-sold. This study finds that the price premium for organic rice is not high enough to induce adoption of this cropping practice. However, organic farmers are well trained, produce high-quality rice and are model farmers who participate in policy-making events, which encourage them to continue to produce organic rice.

气候变化对淮河流域中上游汛期极端流量影响的SWAT模拟

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 气候变化对淮河流域中上游汛期极端流量影响的SWAT模拟 DOI: 10.5846/stxb201609281957 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 国家自然科学基金（41475062）；国家重大基础研究计划（2010CB428506）；水利部公益性行业科研项目（200901042，200901024）；福建省教育厅B类项目（JB12016）水利部公益性行业科研项目（200901042，200901024） Effects of climate change on extreme streamflow in flood season in the upper and middle basin of the Huaihe River by SWAT simulation Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:致洪暴雨主要是3天以上连续强降水，是淮河流域洪涝的直接原因。构建淮河流域中上游SWAT模型，用RegCM3在SRES A2排放情景下的模拟结果（2071-2100年）驱动SWAT模型，研究气候变化对淮河流域中上游汛期极端流量的影响。结果表明：（1）在SRES A2排放情景下，淮河流域中上游未来（2071-2100年）气温升高，降水量增加，降水的空间差异增大；颖河流域中游年降水量有较大幅度的减少，呈现暖干化的趋势；汛期极端过程降水增加，汛期最大9 d降水量平均增幅都在10%以上。（2）在SRES A2排放情景下的气候变化将导致淮河流域中上游汛期极端流量大幅度增加，干流5个水文站汛期最大9 d平均流量的增幅都在20%以上。（3）淮河流域中上游极端流量的概率分布更加集中，更大的极端流量出现的频率更高，研究流域下游更容易出现较大的极端流量。（4）研究流域下游极端流量概率对极端流量变化更敏感，下游也面临着更大的洪涝风险。 Abstract:Consecutive rainstorm events are a main flash-flood-producing phenomenon on a basin scale, and an extreme consecutive rainstorm is more likely to cause catastrophic floods in the Huaihe River Basin. We constructed a SWAT model for the upper and middle basin of the Huaihe River and the drove model using the RegCM3 outputs under SRES A2 Greenhouse Gas Emission Scenarios, during the period from January 1, 2071 to December 31, 2100, to investigate the extreme streamflow response to the climate change during the flood seasons. First, we analyzed the relationship between the maximum 3-13 day precipitation amount and the maximum 3-13 day mean streamflow and determined the maximum 9 day precipitation amount as an indicator of the extreme consecutive rainstorm and the maximum 9-day mean streamflow as an indicator of the extreme streamflow in the flood season. Second, we constructed a SWAT model for the upper and middle basin of the Huaihe River to simulate the maximum 9-day mean streamflow in the flood season. Thirdly, we drove the model using the RegCM3 outputs and simulated the maximum 9-day mean streamflow during the period from January 1, 2071 to December 31, 2100, under SRES A2 Greenhouse Gas Emission Scenarios and the period from January 1,1961 to December 31, 1990 (reference period) respectively. Finally, we compared the results of the maximum 9-day mean streamflow in the flood season under two climate scenarios, and investigated the response of the extreme flow to climate change from the perspective of the probability characteristics. The SWAT model constructed for the upper and middle basin of the Huaihe River simulated monthly streamflow accurately based on the observational data during the period from 1958 to 2009. Simultaneously, the simulation results also reproduced the prominent characteristics of the maximum 9-day mean streamflow in the flood season. The results indicated that, under SRES A2 Scenarios, during the period from January 1, 2071 to December 31, 2100:(1) RegCM3 predicted that annual mean temperature will rise, annual precipitation amount will increase, and the spatial contrast of precipitation will increase in the upper and middle basin of the Huaihe River. However, the annual precipitation amount decreased in the middle basin of the Yinghe River and showed a warming and drying trend. Simultaneously, extreme consecutive precipitation in the flood season increased, especially in the southern basin of the lower reaches. (2) The extreme streamflow in the flood season increased more remarkably, and the maximum 9-day mean streamflow in the flood season increased more than 20% on average in five hydrological gauges. (3) The probability distribution of extreme streamflow was more concentrated and the frequency of the extreme streamflow was much higher, with much higher flood risk in the middle and lower basin. (4) The probability of extreme streamflow in the lower basin responded more sensitively to the extreme streamflow changes, which means flood risks increase owing to climate change. These conclusions have practical significance for flood risk management and control in the Huaihe River Basin under the climate change scenario. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

An Agent-Based Model of Flood Risk and Insurance

Flood risk emerges from the dynamic interaction between natural hazards and human vulnerability. Methods for the quantification of flood risk are well established, but tend to deal with human and economic vulnerability as being static or changing with an exogenously defined trend. In this paper we present an Agent-Based Model (ABM) developed to simulate the dynamical evolution of flood risk and vulnerability, and facilitate an investigation of insurance mechanism in London. The ABM has been developed to firstly allow an analysis of the vulnerability of homeowners to surface water flooding, which is one of the greatest short term climate risks in the UK with estimated annual costs of £1.3bn to £2.2bn. These costs have been estimated to increase by 60-220% over the next 50 years due to climate change and urbanisation. Vulnerability is influenced by homeowner’s decisions to move house and/or install measures to protect their properties from flooding. In particular, the ABM focuses on the role of flood insurance, simulating the current public-private partnership between the government and insurers in the UK, and the forthcoming re-insurance scheme Flood Re, designed as a roadmap to support the future affordability and availability of flood insurance. The ABM includes interaction between homeowners, sellers and buyers, an insurer, a local government and a developer. Detailed GIS and qualitative data of the London borough of Camden are used to represent an area at high risk of surface water flooding. The ABM highlights how future development can exacerbate current levels of surface water flood risk in Camden. Investment in flood protection measures are shown to be beneficial for reducing surface water flood risk. The Flood Re scheme is shown to achieve its aim of securing affordable flood insurance premiums, however, is placed under increasing pressure in the future as the risk of surface water flooding continues to increase.

Disaster Risk Management Systems in South Asia: Natural Hazards, Vulnerability, Disaster Risk and Legislative and Institutional Frameworks

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the disaster risk reduction and management systems and its challenges in the countries of South Asia Region. All the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are highly prone to hydro-meteorological and geological hazards such as floods, landslides, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, heat waves, avalanches and tsunamis. Economic vulnerability analysis shows that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh exhibit the largest losses, which is due to large exposure at risk and the high level of hazards. Poverty, exposed population and lack of preparedness can be attributed to the vulnerability to the disasters caused by natural hazards. Bangladesh and India have the highest Multiple Mortality Risk Index (MMRI) whereas Maldives and Bhutan have the least. Although Maldives has the lowest MMRI based on the past disaster losses, the country has the high risk of tsunami, floods and potential risk of sea level rise mainly due to climate change. Urbanization, environmental degradation and lack of strong governance are exacerbating the vulnerabilities in most of the countries in South Asia. Political instability, border disputes, ineffective regional networks and climate change are triggering the hazard impacts. The occurrence and impact of disasters due to natural hazards are not confined to a country's political boundary. Floods, earthquakes, forest fires and volcanoes have significant cross border impacts. Some examples of crossborder impacts of disasters include Koshi flooding in South Asia (2008), Kashmir earthquake (2005), Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), and recurrent tropical cyclones in Bangladesh and India. Good governance, regional stability, economic prosperity and sound environmental management are required to have minimum impacts of a disaster. After the 2005 Kobe conference, many efforts have been initiated in line with the resilient building of the state in the SAARC region; however, there exists a huge gap in its implementation. For this, a sound disaster risk management system together with the strong coordination among the disaster risk management actors in the countries should prevail to augment the capacity building of the community and institutions and build their resilience capabilities.

Hydrological response to large-scale climate variability across the Pearl River basin, China: Spatiotemporal patterns and sensitivity

The aim of this study is to examine whether the climatic driving forces can describe the observed variability in available water resources and the magnitude of flooding over the Pearl River basin. 62 stations with 41years of monthly streamflow records and 28 stations with 60years of annual maximum streamflow records were used in this study. Four climate indices related to the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans were used to analyze their influence on annual mean discharge (Qann) and annual maximum daily discharge (Qmax) of the Pearl River basin, and the indices are El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). We found that the variations in available water resources and the magnitudes of floods across Pearl River can be explained by climate variability, potentially. The Qann and Qmax in different regions of the domain were significantly related to different climate indices at the same year or at the last year. In addition, in many regions the strengths of the relationships between climate indices and Qann and Qmax have been non-stationary, with either strengthening or weakening trends during the study period. Furthermore, the quantifications of climate indices impacts on Qann and Qmax (i.e. sensitive) were also assessed. The results showed that Qmax was more sensitive to the variability of atmospheric circulation than Qann. In addition, Qann varied on average between 0.3 and 24%, while Qmax varied between 0.5 and 31% per unit climate index change. The above relationships between climate indices and Qann and Qmax provided relevant information for water resources management in Pearl River basin, allowing the identification of regions with higher flood risk and enhancement of human mitigation to floods.

The need for municipal action planning against flood risk: the risk-informed journey of the municipality of Oliva (Spain)

Society demands higher safety levels, including those actions related to urban planning and protection against natural hazards and manmade threats. Therefore, authorities respond to these demands through new regulatory and operational frameworks to cope with existing and future risks. The Spanish regulatory framework regarding flood risk management, based on the European context, defines the required procedures for emergency management, involving all authorities responsable for civil protection and urban planning. This framework requires all municipalities at medium or high flood risk to develop and implement local action plans against flood risk (PAMRI, by its acronym in Spanish), which must include a risk estimation, analysis and evaluation, along with the description of actions for a risk-informed urban planning and emergency management. The City Council of Oliva developed the corresponding plan, approved by the regional government in June 2016, including new aspects such as the figure of the Technical Director, and a comprehensive and quantitative flood risk analysis to support decisionmaking on emergency management and planning.

Utilization of the Flood Simulation Model for Disaster Management of Local Government

This paper proposes a method to evaluate the flood risk of each district in a municipality to assist disaster management personnel. The method is specifically for municipalities in a mountainous region where insufficient information is available for practical disaster management. Using this method, we conducted inundation analysis for multiple patterns of rainfall and discharge using a rainfall-runoff-inundation model, and estimated the maximum inundation depth and duration. Based on the estimation, we developed a “flood diagnostic chart” to evaluate district-level flood risk, additionally considering other indicators. Moreover, we located flood hotspots, which are areas requiring extra precautions because of the high flood risk for districts.

Assessing the Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Seasonal Precipitation Extremes and the Potential Influencing Factors in Dongting Lake Basin, China

The Dongting Lake Basin (DTLB) of China is a flood prone area. Knowledge of the spatiotemporal characteristics and risks of precipitation extremes is essential for flood mitigation. Based on the precipitation amount (R), precipitation intensity (Ri), max 1 day precipitation amount (Rx1) and max 5 day precipitation amount (Rx5), this study analyzed the spatial-temporal patterns, risks and investigated the influences of the precipitation extremes at seasonal scale. The distributed high values of R, Ri, Rx1, Rx5 and their 5-year return levels (R5, Ri5, Rx15, Rx55) indicated high flood risks in the eastern and northern parts of the basin, and the general upward trends of these indices suggested increasing flood risks, except for some areas in southwestern part in spring and autumn. The precipitation extremes were related to the topographic and circulation factors, within which the latter might have greater roles. Furthermore, the trend directions of the 5-year return levels (R5, Ri5, Rx15, Rx55) were not always the same as the initial indices (R, Ri, Rx1, Rx5), suggesting that overall decreasing (increasing) precipitation extremes do not always represent decreasing (increasing) risks of floods. Hence, policy makers should pay more attention to the risks of precipitation extremes rather than their overall tendencies.

Social and Biophysical Context Influences County-level Support for Collaborative Watershed Restoration: Case Study of the Sacramento River, CA, USA

Collaborative watershed management is an increasingly common practice with the potential to be more effective than top-down approaches. One critical issue I investigate here is regional differences in collaborative governance context, process, and outcomes within large-scale collaborative watershed restoration. Using interviews, document review, direct observation, and analysis of employment, population, voting, and land use data, I examine differences in socioeconomic, political, and biophysical context among four counties in California, US within a large-scale collaborative watershed restoration project. I relate these factors to differences in collaborative processes and environmental and social outcomes. The four rural agricultural-based counties had different socioeconomic and biophysical concerns associated with large-scale restoration. Flood risk, type of agriculture, and local advocacy organizations emerged as important factors influencing support for collaborative restoration within the watershed. Although individual farmers in all four counties sold their land to restoration practitioners in similar proportions, there were differences in area restored among the counties. Only 3% of the purchased properties were restored in the county with the highest level of irrigated cropland and highest flood risk, while 26–38% of the purchased properties were restored in the other three counties. Multi-benefit projects that target issues important to the community (i.e., recreation or flood control) can reduce opposition as can mitigation and minimization of negative effects of restoration on crops, and co-developing knowledge with stakeholders.

The state of the art of spaceborne remote sensing in flood management

Flood management consists many aspects such as hazard assessment, vulnerability assessment, exposure assessment, risk assessment, early warning system, damage assessment as well as risk mitigation planning. Conventional flood management are depending on the ground based monitoring of rainfall and river discharge. Many parts of the world are not covered by these sensor networks in one hand and these ground based systems are costly. Most of the tropical countries have high flood risk and low financial and institutional capacity to afford ground based system. While conventional flood management is time and cost intensive, spaceborne remote sensing provides timely and low-cost data in comparison to field observation, and is the obvious choice for most developing countries affected by flooding. Many aspects of flood management are being aided with the advancement of remote sensing technology. More precise and near real time flood detection, lead time in flood early warning system, accurate and advance inputs of hydrological models are now blessed by space technology. Many methods and approaches have been developed to overcome the constrains in the application of spaceborne remote sensing in flood management. Application of satellite remote sensing in flood hazard assessment is well documented, however, the application of space technology in other aspects of the flood management is also promising. Therefore, this review paper focuses on the applicability of spaceborne remote sensing and in most of the aspects in flood management.

Evaluation of Climate Change Impact And Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment In Rangpur District, Bangladesh

Groundwater vulnerability assessment was carried out in Rangpur district due to climate change and with an aim to assess the climatic change evaluation and groundwater vulnerability. The climatic parameter such as rainfall and temperature were used to evaluate the changes of climate. Moisture index, drought hazard index, flood hazard index and groundwater vulnerability assessment were calculated following the Thornthwaite model (1948), Shahid and Behrawan (2008) and GIS based DRASTIC model. The analysis reveals that rainfall related flood hazards may increase over the years as the duration and magnitude of rainfall may increase. As temperature of Rangpur may change, so potential evaporation will change. Risk ranking revel that severity and frequency rainfall flood is higher than meteorological drought and the highest flood risk indicate moderate-to-high flood risk condition. The highest meteorological drought risk indicates drought risk condition sufficiently high. Groundwater level is declining at an alarming rate which causing the groundwater moderate vulnerable to high vulnerable condition.

Actual vis-à-vis perceived risk of flood prone urban communities in Pakistan

Urban flooding has been an alarming issue over the past years in Asia and other countries. Pakistan has been experiencing such flooding with associated damages regularly. Understanding the degree of vulnerability and risk are essential to work out risk reduction measures. It is equally important to measure the risk perception vis-à-vis actual risk for successful implementation of preparedness initiatives. The main purpose of this paper is to understand the variation as well as the relationship between actual and perceived risk. Three cities (Rawalpindi, Sialkot and Muzaffargarh) with different population size situated in high risk flood zones of Pakistan were selected for empirical investigation. Household survey was conducted in three urban communities highly impacted by flood for actual and perceived risk assessments with well-defined indicators. Results revealed that due to poor socioeconomic conditions of households living in flood prone community of metropolitan city, they were more vulnerable as compared to other cities. In three cities, about 14% households live at high risk against 10% households with high-perceived risk. Significantly differential risks exist among the cities. Similar results have been observed in terms of perceived risk. Comparative analyses have revealed that both actual and perceived risk levels are significantly different among the cities but reflect a positive correlation in all three cities. This implies that the perceived risk increases with respect to actual risk. In the absence of hard data for actual risk assessment, perceived risk may be a good substitute for working out risk reduction measures.

Counting the cost of coastal vulnerability

Significant coastal vulnerability (CV) in the United Kingdom (UK) endangers the population and the infrastructure and distorts the national economy, yet present and proposed literature only quotes previous circumstances that failed to deliver factual fiscal assessment. The current estimate models for coastal vulnerability are useful for decision-making in some magnitudes, but coastal vulnerability models need to be extended to comprise a wider choice of economic effects. These are real problems that need to be addressed for an estimation of fiscal coastal vulnerability with novel models of science and economics to limit destruction costs or spend with greater resilience. To address the current research gap, this study appraised coastal vulnerability by establishing an innovative model: a Fiscal Coastal Vulnerability Index (FCVI) with fiscal parameters by 2 Path analysis (2 PA). It identifies the coastal vulnerability hotspots in Path One (P1) and develops an FCVI and GIS maps in Path Two (P2). Primary results revealed that 11 sites across the UK (seven in England, three in Wales, and one in Scotland) were identified as fiscally vulnerable coastal areas. Identified sites currently contain £22.36 billion worth of coastal vulnerability, and >100,000 people are at high risk of flooding, erosion, storm surge, and high winds. The Fiscal Coastal Vulnerability Index can be adapted depending on kind of coastal environment and used as a planning tool to establish economic susceptibility. This work explains that the methodological framework can be adjusted for any suitable coastal sites at global or regional scales, and can be used to vindicate in-depth studies for coastal defences and budget.

Low-carbon behavior approaches for reducing direct carbon emissions: Household energy use in a coastal city

Household carbon emissions from energy use are rapidly increasing in conjunction with growing urbanization; their reduction is critical for local urban climate improvement and the sustainable development of cities. Low-carbon behavior is proved as a key element determining residents’ lifestyle. Understanding how that behavior affects household energy use will be useful in promoting low-carbon households. In this study, Xiamen, a coastal city was divided into areas at high and low risk of flooding. We used the path analysis method—integrated with behavior and socioeconomic factors—to explore the mechanisms of low carbon behavior effects on household direct energy use and related carbon emissions. We found that socioeconomic conditions combined with low-carbon behavior had direct and indirect impacts on household carbon emissions. Low-carbon behavior in the high-risk area contributed most to reducing carbon emissions. Education level was the important factors in the low-risk area. Government-led policies encouraging low-carbon behavior were effective in reducing household carbon emissions in the high-risk area. However, in low-risk areas, education about a low-carbon lifestyle is an effective means for reducing carbon emissions.

Using and abusing a torrential urban river: the Wien River before and during industrialization

The Wien River is the largest tributary of the Viennese Danube and was a center of urban production during industrialization. It’s highly dynamic flow regime with small average discharge as well as recurrent big, fast floods posed challenges to its use. In this study we focus on the role of this urban watercourse for supplying water to crafts and industries and for wastewater discharge in the 19th century. Animal slaughtering, tanning, dyeing, textile printing, beer brewing, and chemical industry as main water demanding and polluting crafts were investigated. Their location in the catchment was determined and they were systematized by their needs of water and types of pollutants released into the river. Spatial distribution patterns of these industries from the end of the 18th to the end of the 19th century show a complex picture in terms of water supply and waste water discharge. We found very distinct patterns for different sections of the river as well as for different crafts and could observe a change over the time period investigated. Only few types of businesses lied close to the Wien River which can, to some extent, be explained with the high risk of flooding. Groundwater played a more important role for water supply while the main function of the river was wastewater discharge. Spatial distribution of crafts and industries, and changes in locations resulted from an interplay of environmental and social factors. Availability of surface waters, water supply, and discharge infrastructure (wells, pipelines, sewers) seem to have been important for the choice of location for production sites. Regulations concerning the exertion of industries, economic factors and technological innovation also played a role in the development of the observed spatial pattern.