Five independent projects consisting of reinforcing dams, levees, and embankments are available for funding by a certain public agency. The following tabulation shows the equivalent annual benefits and costs for each:

a. Assume that the projects are of the type for which the benefits can be determined with considerable certainty and that the agency is willing to invest money as long as the B-C ratio is at least one. Which alternatives should be selected for funding?

b. What is the rank-ordering of projects from best to worst?

c. If the projects involved intangible benefits that required considerable judgment in assigning their values, would your recommendation be affected?

Project Annual Benefits Annual Costs $1,500,000 $2,100,000 3,000,000 3,100,000 6,700,000 5,300,000 9,200,000 6,200,000 4,900,000 4,200,000 09