What should we protect? Consequence Analysis that reflects communities' unique assets and vulnerabilities.

ABSTRACT ONLY - Why is risk-based consequence analysis currently critical for dam safety practitioners to understand? Because the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act contains significant funding increases for dam safety programs, and federal, state, and private dam owners will need to make informed decisions about which projects to move forward. Consequence analysis is a vital decision-making tool for dam safety projects, whether the goal is new structure design, existing structure rehabilitation or decommissioning. Practitioners can use analysis results to support federal and state funding applications, as well as to communicate a project's risks and benefits to affected communities.
To conduct effective, place-based consequence analysis, practitioners should always ask the question, 'What are this community's unique assets and vulnerabilities, and how could this project protect these assets or reduce these vulnerabilities?'•
We present key considerations for effective risk-based consequence analysis, focusing on economic and social impacts. Through several case studies, we demonstrate how consequence analysis was strengthened by an understanding of a community's unique assets and vulnerabilities. Specifically, these case study examples highlight the importance of 1) social and racial equity effects analysis for disadvantaged communities, 2) land use analysis for suburban communities undergoing rapidly expanding development, and 3) cropland and water quality analysis for a rural agriculture-dependent community.
We describe the use of flood damage assessment modeling as a starting point, the appropriate selection of hazard events to model, and hydrologic and hydraulic analysis parameters. The case studies illustrate how these core assessment methodologies should be combined with an understanding of a community's unique characteristics to fully develop project effects. We conclude by discussing how these analyses can be scaled up or down to a level of detail that will satisfy funding requirements and fit schedule and budget limitations of a specific project.