A Spatial Decision Support System to Optimize Inspection, Maintenance and Reparation Operations of River Levees

More and more floods occurred over the last decade in France and in the world, causing important damages and significant costs. Moreover, levees are often not well maintained, so they hardly resist to major floods and can break easily. At French national scale, the length of levees, estimated to 7500 kilometers, and the lack of data all along these infrastructures complicates their management. In this frame, levee managers need approaches and tools in order to be helped in their maintenance decision. The goal of our research is to develop methods modeling levee failure mechanisms and allowing performance levee assessment. From collected data (detailed visual inspections, laboratory tests, historical data, etc.), we establish indicators able to assess levee condition and performance. These methods integrated in an existing GIS dedicated to levee management will contribute to obtain a spatial decision support system aiding levee managers in their maintenance decision. Our communication presents in a first part the development of the “Levee GIS” and an example of its current functionalities. In a second part we describe the models that have been set up to assess levee performances and we describe their integration into a new prototype version of the “Levee GIS”.