The top story of this week's Risk UK newsletter is Halcrow's use of Palisade @RISK risk analysis software, for flood mitigation.
Severe flooding due to heavy rainfall in the UK continues to be a real threat. Halcrow looks at mitigating the consequences by determining the risk faced by critical assets such as water treatment works and pumping stations and weighing these up against the cost of appropriate preventative measures. The process is subject to a great deal of uncertainty, which Halcrow quantifies using @RISK. This ensures that informed decisions are made on the best action to be taken.
“Serious flooding having a major impact on water services is a very real possibility in some areas in the UK – and this has been demonstrated in recent years,” explains Alec Yeowell, asset management engineer at Halcrow. “We set out to understand what it was realistic to mitigate against and achieve in terms of the costs and benefits of improving the current levels of resilience. The nature of the task means that each stage of the calculation is subject to uncertainty. @RISK, which is flexible and robust, allows us to measure each eventuality and present it visually so that the benefits of each path are clear to everyone and an informed decision can be taken.”
More about Halcrow's use of @RISK: Determining the Level of Flood Resilience Required for UK Water Assets, using Risk Analysis