This last issue of 2008 is dominated by the 15th biennial BDS conference, held at the University of Warwick in September. It was a most successful conference, and for those who did not manage to attend, you can experience it vicariously with Martin Airey's overview of what was enjoyed, along with write-ups of the pre-conference tours and technical visits, and the highlight of the conference – Bill Carlyle's Binnie Lecture.
One of the most compelling presentations for all the delegates came from Ian Hope and Simon Rundle of the Environment Agency, who outlined the proposed changes to UK reservoir legislation: a topic that will affect not only the enforcement authority but everyone involved in dams, from undertakers and operating staff to panel engineers and consultants. It is proposed that the changes be entrenched in the Floods and Water Bill (transposition of the EU Floods Directive into UK law), which will then supersede the Reservoirs Act 1975 in England and Wales. The outline timetable given at the conference for this bill suggested a draft by spring 2009 and implementation by autumn 2009.
Looking ahead to next year, the supervising engineer's forum is being held once again in Manchester. Details are given below and in the flyer accompanying this issue.
The BDS committee has also revamped and extended the competitions being run next year – and improved the prizes! The BDS prize now includes a fantastic first prize of an all expenses paid trip to Bengoh dam in Malaysia. Details are given below.
Missed greatly by all I trust, the second issue of Dams and Reservoirs, due in July, sadly had to be delayed because of a lack of material, perhaps in part due to potential authors concentrating on papers for the conference. Although we are moving towards a fully peer-reviewed journal, adding to the journal's rigour, can I urge contributors not to be put off by this – only technical articles will be reviewed, not news items or experience-based papers, and by the end of next year, it should all be smoothly handled online. In the meantime, please continue to submit articles directly to me at debbie.hay-smith@fabermaunsell.co.uk. Author guidelines can be found on the journal website at www.thomastelford.com/journals. I am happy to help with any format issues if required. Please remember this is a journal of a small society that needs the support of all its members.
The BDS supervising engineers' forum
The forum will be of great interest to supervising engineers, other panel engineers and all who are involved in dam safety. It will be held at the Manchester Conference Centre, University of Manchester, on 22 April 2009 and will comprise presentations on current topics of interest to supervising engineers, a discussion forum on questions submitted by delegates and recent case histories of dam behaviour, performance and remedial works. Details of the costs, timetable and how to register will be advertised soon. Please e-mail your interest to speak on a topic together with a short summary of your proposed presentation to David Brown at the details below. Please also e-mail ideas for topics, questions for debate and presentation summaries to David.Brown@britishwaterways.co.uk.
BDS competitions
The BDS is running three competitions in 2009: the BDS prize, the students competition and the photography competition.
The BDS prize is open to BDS members under 35 years of age on the date of the competition. The next competition will take place on 23 November 2009 at the Institution of Civil Engineers. Participants are invited to submit papers of about 2500 words on dam engineering. Candidates must submit synopses of their proposed papers to Tim Fuller by e-mail (Tim.Fuller@ice.org.uk) by 10 May 2009. Synopses should be about 250 words and should be accompanied by brief biographical details of the author. The authors of synopses assessed as being relevant to the competition will be invited to submit their completed papers by 1 October 2009. A panel of judges will select a short list of candidates to present their papers on 23 November 2009. First prize is £300 plus a week's all expenses paid trip to Malaysia to spend time at the construction site of the 62 m high Bengoh dam. Second prize is £300, and third prize £150. Further details can be found on the BDS website at www.britishdams.org.
The student competition is open to students from universities in full-time education. BDS sponsors the winner to attend dams-related courses/seminars. The events on offer for the 2009 competition are the International Conference on Long Term Behaviour of Dams in Austria on 12–13 October 2009, the Austrian ICOLD conference in Innsbruck on 22–23 September 2010 and the BDS conference in Scotland in 2010. In addition, there will be cash prizes for the runners up: second prize £200 and third prize £100. To enter this competition, you should send the following to Tim Fuller by e-mail (Tim.Fuller@ice.org.uk) by 1 April 2009: an essay up to 1000 words on the topic ‘The benefits of dams’ and a one-page application outlining which event you wish to attend, what you would gain from the experience, why you wish to take part and why you should be selected.
The BDS photography competition is open to members of BDS and ICE as well as civil engineering students. Photographers are entitled to submit one photo to either or both of the following categories: (a) dams and reservoirs in the UK; (b) overseas dams and reservoirs. The deadline for submission is 1 September 2009. Rules for the competition are detailed on the BDS website at www.britishdams.org. All entries will be judged by a panel of BDS committee members. The winner will be announced on 1 November 2009 and the prizes for each category will be: first prize £200, second prize £100, third prize £50. Electronic images of the photos should be emailed to Tim Fuller at bds@ice.org.uk. Alternatively, prints should be sent to: Tim Fuller, BDS Secretary, c/o ICE, 1 Great George Street, London SW1P 3AA.
Defra and Environment Agency reservoir safety research and development strategy
A reminder that the draft reservoir safety research and development strategy is now available for industry review and comment at http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/subjects/flood/1217883/1217968/907848/2109167/. The strategy will be finalised in late 2008.
We welcome submissions from readers. Please send contributions (up to 250 words) to the Editor, e-mail: debbie.hay-smith@fabermaunsell.com
