Happy new year and welcome to the first issue of Dams and Reservoirs of 2009. This issue contains the usual mix of news articles, meeting reports and technical papers. We are very fortunate that Andrew Charles agreed to revamp his Rankine Lecture to give it a dams focus. Mason and Hinks provide a conclusive paper on the Ulley incident. There are also three papers on low level outlets following a presentation to BDS members in October last year, and two reports on safety incidents at small dams that do not fall under the Reservoirs Act—highly relevant in the light of proposed legislative changes which will be described in a forthcoming article from the Environment Agency. Enjoy.
Reservoir safety R&D gathers pace—an update on Defra and Environment Agency reservoir safety research and development strategy
The Environment Agency is making excellent progress in managing reservoir safety research and development with a recently published strategy and impressive programme of work underway. Reservoir safety research and development is being carried out as part of the joint Defra/Environment Agency flood and coastal erosion risk management R&D programme. The Defra/Environment Agency reservoir safety R&D strategy has now been published following consultation and is available on the Environment Agency website at www.environment-agency.gov.uk. Presented for discussion at the BDS conference in September, the strategy looks at proposed investment in reservoir safety research and development for the next five and 15 years.
High priority projects
The Environment Agency's flood risk science team has already begun to manage a number of high priority projects recommended in the strategy. The team has commissioned Atkins to review current guides Interim Guidance on Quantitative Risk Assessment and the Guide to Internal Erosion. This work will determine what work is needed to revise the guides in future. Research into stepped masonry spillway chutes at dams, carried out by MWH, will provide guidance for future assessments by those carrying out hydraulic calculations, site condition inspections and remedial works for stepped masonry spillways. We have recently commissioned Halcrow to produce a document called Lessons Learnt from Dam Incidents that will inform and educate the UK reservoir industry about key incidents and dam failures, which have shaped the industry and influenced best practice. The Environment Agency is now managing the long return period rainfall phase 1 project. This will provide a better methodology for estimating the magnitude of rainfall for an annual probability of 100–10 000 year return period. The project, which is being carried out by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, will be completed in spring 2009.
Advisory role
The Institution of Civil Engineers' reservoir safety advisory group receives progress reports from the Environment Agency and advises them on the research and development needs of the reservoir industry as well as helping to develop priority projects for 2009/10. These projects include revising the Interim Guidance on Quantitative Risk Assessment and the Guide to Internal Erosion and continuing with phase 2 of the long return period rainfall project.
For further information
To find out more about the Environment Agency's work on reservoir safety research and development or to comment on the R&D strategy, contact Ian Hope (ian.hope@environment-agency.gov.uk) or Geoff Baxter (geoff.baxter@environment-agency.wales.gov.uk).
The BDS Supervising Engineers' Forum
Another reminder that the forum will be held at the Manchester Conference Centre, UMIST, 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.
The questions submitted to date are as follows.
To what extent should a supervising engineer be available for call out; should he/she, for instance, become teetotal? The Act (Section 20 (4) (e)) requires that supervising engineers giving advice to an undertaker to have an ‘extra’ section 10 inspection or ‘or to take any other action’, inform the enforcement authority. Advice is given all the time but when should the enforcement authority be notified? Is surveillance by ‘reservoir keepers’ being carried out sufficiently frequently? Should service reservoirs, flood detention ponds and flood defence embankments be regarded as reservoirs under new legislation? Should Inspecting Engineers advise on minimum maintenance frequencies such as grass cutting? Should it be a duty to collect rainfall data? Is the ‘10 yearly’ period between inspecting engineers' inspections too long? As routine maintenance on dams seems in terminal decline, is a five year period more appropriate? Can the outputs of portfolio risk assessment be utilised to influence the measures and timing of section 10 interests of safety work and to what extent?
The forum is organised on a voluntary basis so it is possible to restrict the cost to £100 for BDS members (£120 for non-members to include BDS membership for the rest of 2009 and £25 for students registered with an academic institution). The price includes lunch and refreshments; VAT is not applicable. Exhibitors will be welcome at no additional charge as long as they send at least two delegates. Please contact David Brown (david.brown@britishwaterways.co.uk) if you wish to exhibit.
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 sponsor 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 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 the 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.
