ABSTRACT
Technical theories of risk underpin the approaches that will be most familiar to water practitioners and readers of this book. It is the positivist principle that underlines our own risk processes and standards that are used industry wide. But why is this an issue? This chapter outlines the history of technical theories of risk, from the 1950s where it is first utilised as a process within Nuclear Safety in the United States to today where very little has changed in its approach. This chapter argues that this process is highly flawed, especially from the basis of what we understand of other risk theories.
The objective, positivist nature of such risk assessments serves to create a false sense of security within a technocracy such as water management.
