Regional Environmental Change

, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp 185–194 | Cite as

Lesson learned from adaptation response to Devils Lake flooding in North Dakota, USA

Original Article
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Abstract

The water level of Devils Lake, a terminal lake in the northeast of North Dakota, U.S., has risen nearly 10 m since 1993, inundating farm land and causing significant damages to the infrastructure and surrounding communities. The currently adopted flood adaptation policy is continuing infrastructural protection (CIP), under which the infrastructure, such as levees or roads, is raised gradually in response to the rising water. Since the Devils Lake city and the adjacent communities are built within the historical confines of the lake, we introduce and estimate potential costs of two diametrical, but long-term targeted adaptation strategies involving either buyout or relocation (B/R) to contrast against the CIP. The comparison shows that B/R, while more expensive initially, would be cheaper than CIP accumulated over longer term. We further explore the reason that policymakers prefer CIP: the near-term uncertainty regarding the future lake levels has led to significant discount of long-term potential risk. With future risk significantly discounted, not only B/R, but any other alternatives that feature long-term perspective, could become less attractive than CIP. Were we able to predict the flooding more accurately or willing to discount future less, we might have chosen a different plan of action. The ultimate choice of CIP among the possible adaptation options reveals that policymakers have privileged the present and favored near-term remedies instead of long-term solutions. Although certainly not on the same scale, the lesson we have learned in dealing with Devils Lake has far-reaching implications on climate change adaptation strategies. The passive decision to wait and ignore the full potential for disaster ultimately leaves us with no other option, but to continue to “wait and see” and then spend more.

Keywords

Devils lake Flooding Adaptation Risk management Perception Climate change 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

Funding for this work was provided by NASA under contracts NNX10AH20G, NNX09AQ81G, and NNX09AO06G. The authors thank Bonnie Greenleaf and Bill Csajko from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Michael Noone and Carolyn Merbach from the North Dakota State Water Commission, Dale Ihry and Jim Jost from the North Dakota State Farm Service Agency, and Cecily Fong from the North Dakota Department of Emergency Services for providing data, information, and insights. We thank Douglas Tiffany from the University of Minnesota, and North Dakota State Water Commission for providing valuable feedback on an earlier version of this manuscript. Two anonymous reviewers have provided valuable comments, which allowed us to further improved the manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Earth System Science and PolicyUniversity of North DakotaGrand ForksUSA
  2. 2.U.S. Department of the InteriorWashingtonUSA

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