Cover: Decision Support Tool for the San Francisco Bay-Delta Levee Investment Strategy

Decision Support Tool for the San Francisco Bay-Delta Levee Investment Strategy

by David G. Groves

View Online

Access the tool

The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta comprises over 100 islands and tracts northeast of the San Francisco Bay. Most are below sea level and are protected by levees, whereas some are tidal or above sea level. The Delta supports a unique ecosystem, communities, and agricultural land, and plays a key role in the California water distribution system. The flood risks facing the Delta are complex and varied. Some islands are at high risk from flood damage to human life or structures and property, whereas others are at risk of impacting the State's water supply, flooding important habitat, or compromising the Delta's historic towns, prime agricultural land, or public roadways. The possible investments to mitigate these risks are numerous, and they will affect Delta risks differently.

The Delta Stewardship Council commissioned the development of a risk modeling framework and decision support tool (DST) to aid in the formulation of a Delta Levees Investment Strategy. The DST is an interactive tool that allows exploration of the data, analysis, and results.

The use of the tool, and its methodological basis, are described in the related report Decision Support Tool for the San Francisco Bay-Delta Levees Investment Strategy: Documentation and Use.

Access the tool

Research conducted by

The research described in this report was sponsored by the Delta Stewardship Council and conducted by the Community Health and Environmental Policy Program within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation Tool series. RAND tools may include models, databases, calculators, computer code, GIS mapping tools, practitioner guidelines, web applications, and various toolkits. All RAND tools undergo rigorous peer review to ensure both high data standards and appropriate methodology in keeping with RAND's commitment to quality and objectivity.

Our mission to help improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis is enabled through our core values of quality and objectivity and our unwavering commitment to the highest level of integrity and ethical behavior. To help ensure our research and analysis are rigorous, objective, and nonpartisan, we subject our research publications to a robust and exacting quality-assurance process; avoid both the appearance and reality of financial and other conflicts of interest through staff training, project screening, and a policy of mandatory disclosure; and pursue transparency in our research engagements through our commitment to the open publication of our research findings and recommendations, disclosure of the source of funding of published research, and policies to ensure intellectual independence. For more information, visit www.rand.org/about/research-integrity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.