This article presents the problems of floodplain management in the context of the assessment and changes of flood risk, as well as its effects on the environment. The author discusses issues such as the role of floodplain management in the assessment of flood risk, changes in global flood risk, influence of the observed changes in floodplain management, and flood risk on the environment.
Continuous floodplains urbanization has caused an increase in the level of population and property exposure the to the danger of being flooded, increased vulnerability of riverside areas, and increased the potential economic losses. A development of built-up areas in the floodplain has a negative effect on water management in the catchment area. It also causes changes to the hydrological cycle in the environment by reducing the infiltration and retentive capability of soils and increasing surface runoff flow, as well as changes of flood regimes and intensive erosive processes. The development of industrial and business areas in the floodplains also generates higher environmental contamination as a result of flooding.
Nowadays, it departs from perceiving flood protection in terms of “control” and “defence,” toward the conception of “giving the rivers their space back,” as well as “predicting” flood risk and its management. A symptom of implementing a flood risk management idea is enacting a Floods Directive, in which the most effective forms of flood control and flood risk reduction is preventative spatial planning in the floodplain.