Meeting report: The 80th Annual Meeting of ICOLD, 2012, Kyoto Free

The 80th Annual Meeting of International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD) and the 24th Congress was held in the Japanese city of Kyoto between 2 and 8 June 2012. The main conference venue was the impressive Kyoto International Convention Centre that is situated on the northern edge of the city, and which was made famous by the agreement of the Kyoto Protocol on Climate Change. This was an excellent location for this ICOLD event and although the majority of hotels were located in the city centre, travel to and from the centre was very easy by means of the quick and efficient Kyoto metro system. There was, unfortunately, a very limited attendance of BDS members at the meetings with just five delegates who represent the UK on a number of the different technical committees, and two accompanying persons. No doubt the time commitment, the distance from Europe and the expense were all factors that deterred attendance, and it was also unfortunate that the event coincided with the celebrations in UK for the Queen's diamond jubilee. Overall, however, it was a great success and in total there were 1350 delegates and 200 accompanying persons representing 66 countries. As is customary at these events the proceedings over the week covered a number of different components and included

• the annual ICOLD executive meeting

• meetings of the various technical committees of ICOLD

• an international symposium ‘Dams for a changing world’, which was organised by the local committee (Japanese Commission on Large Dams – JCOLD)

• separate meetings of the different regional groups including the ICOLD European Club

• both pre- and post-conference technical visits

• the 24th International Congress (papers and presentations on questions 92 to 95)

• a technical exhibition

• a full programme of cultural and social activities for accompanying persons.

An outline of these various events and of the participation of BDS members is presented below.

Interesting aspects of any international conference are always the technical tours and the one-day pre-conference tour to the surrounding area of Kyoto was no exception. This started off at the Lake Biwa canal system which dates back to the 1880s and which was constructed so as to transfer water from the lake (the largest natural lake in Japan) to the city of Kyoto. This was considered to be a vital factor in the development of the city in the period after the capital was moved from Kyoto to Tokyo. We then moved on to the upstream end of the system where the Seta River Weir is located at the natural outlet of the lake. This gated regulator was constructed in 1961 and replaced an earlier weir at the same site that was first built in 1905. The present structure is used to balance the flow from the lake and into the downstream Yodo river system in order to provide regulation for environmental management of the river throughout the year. In addition, the weir is used to provide seasonal variation in the water level in Lake Biwa so as to provide flood mitigation.

After an excellent lunch at a lavish hotel on the banks of the lake, the tour party moved on to visit the beautiful Uji Byodoin, one of several ancient temples in the Kyoto area, and surely one of the finest and most sacred which is set amid tranquil gardens (see Figure 1).

The tour concluded with a visit to two dams which form the lower and upper lakes of the Kisenyama pumped storage project. The Amagase dam (Figure 2) is located on the Uji River (part of the Yodo River system) and is approximately 20 km downstream of Lake Bewa. It is a concrete arch structure of 73 m in height with a crest length of 254 m which impounds a reservoir with a storage volume of 26·3 million m³. It was built in 1964 and pre-dates the pumped storage scheme. In fact water released through the dam is still used to generate conventional hydropower at a power station that is located immediately downstream of the left abutment, by utilising the head difference across the dam structure. The dam structure is also operated to provide flood regulation to the downstream river system. It is fitted with three conduit gates through the body of the arch, plus four radial gates situated in the mid-section of the crest. Depending upon the water level in the reservoir and the incoming flood discharge these gates are operated in sequence to manage the release of water.

The pumped storage element of the project was added in the early 1970s. It is located at the head of the Amagase reservoir (which serves as the lower pool) and is about 5 km upstream of the dam. The project incorporates an underground powerhouse and an upper lake which has been created by the construction of the Kisenyama dam on the mountain above the Amagase reservoir. The dam is a rockfill embankment of 90 m in height and it impounds an upper lake of some 1·5 million m³ capacity. The underground power station was also visited where the staff of the Kansai Electricity Company explained the daily pumping and generation sequence for the two 240 MW reversible pump/turbine units, so as to utilise the 220 m head that exists between the upper and lower reservoirs.

Overall it was an excellent visit that was extremely well organised by the staff of JCOLD. We arrived back in Kyoto in the early evening rather tired but suitably impressed by the dams, the Japanese scenery and by the hospitality and friendliness of our hosts.

Japan hadn't been on my list of holiday destinations, but when Ian mentioned that the 2012 ICOLD Conference and Symposium was in Kyoto and I was welcome to come along as an ‘accompanying person’ and we'd tag a holiday week on the end, I thought ‘why not?’.

After some intensive research on the internet, we planned the supporting itinerary, booked flights and hotels then tried to pack light (not one of Ian's strengths!). Flying out a few days early we landed in Osaka and took an iconic bullet train down to Hiroshima for a night and saw the Peace Park and historic red torri gate on Mija-jama Island.

Back to Kyoto we joined a Gardens Tour and City Tour on the Saturday to see a few of Kyoto's key tourist attractions – but as there are more than 2000 temples and shrines, this wasn't more than a cordon bleu taster. Sunday brought the Technical Tour and I'm pleased to confirm that the dams in Japan also hold back water, much as they do elsewhere! Although interestingly (honest, it was) more are used for the generation of hydro-electric power than we do here, but that's probably indicative of the hilly geography.

Monday brought the start of the conference for Ian and the start of an exhausting round of sightseeing for me! Kyoto is a lovely city; the tube is easy to use, everywhere is clean, no litter or graffiti and you feel completely safe; happy to wander down backstreets to find a delightful little restaurant or more probably a temple.

Monday evening saw the Welcome Reception (Figure 3); so we headed north on the tube up to the Conference Centre. I confess, it was a bit of a shock as Ian hadn't mentioned there were approx 1350 delegates, plus 200 spouses, so the peaceful garden I'd had lunch in was a mass of humanity. Fortunately we spotted some of the British and Australian contingents Ian knew (near a table of drinks, no surprise there) and joined them. After some welcome speeches, and intensive Japanese drumming, food was served – some fantastic sushi – I wasn't sure exactly what I was eating, but it was all delicious. Later there were Geikos dancing and singing which was very interesting. I subsequently learnt that ‘Geisha’ are known as ‘Geiko’ in Kyoto and the trainees are called ‘Meiko’. These can be differentiated by various features including the length of their kimono sleeves and hair style. The hospitality was generous – we sampled sparkling sake, wine and beers – only for the purposes of research... although Ian was frugal with his sampling as he was presenting his paper the next day and retained a clear head.

Wednesday evening brought the Cultural Evening – really an evening is not enough for this type of country, but there was a lovely film compilation showing key festivals which gave a flavour of annual events in the country. We were then treated to further Geiko and Meiko displays of music and dancing and then a short ‘Noh’ sketch (fortunately the plot was explained) before it concluded. We enjoyed a most delightful meal afterwards, again with convivial company.

Following custom, the British contingent dined together on Thursday night and we sought out a traditional Japanese restaurant, removing our shoes on entry and sitting on the floor. A varied cuisine and affable conversation led to an enjoyable evening. Food was served in stages with the rice dish towards the end. We witnessed this measured and convivial way of eating many times, which must contribute to the fact that few Japanese were overweight – another noticeable attribute of the country.

After more sightseeing and sushi making, Friday arrived all too soon and with it the Farewell Banquet. Ian wisely advised arriving early and we fortuitously met the Aussie's we were planning on dining with on the tube station! The delegates were so numerous that the party took over two floors of a quite substantial hotel, so arriving early was a sound plan. Understandably, although sadly, the cuisine wasn't typically Japanese, but it was fantastic, including flambéed steak and champagne sorbet. All washed down with a variety of sparkling sake, sparkling wine, white and red wine, beer if you preferred and a whisky chaser – which lubricated the vocal cords in time for an impromptu recital of Czech sea shanties on the Japanese subway!

We then continued our travels and headed to the hills to spend two nights in Takayama (green and peaceful), a night in Matsumoto (great castle) and three nights in Tokyo (amazing) before flying home. In summary, I had a brilliant time; I signed up for quite a few tours as I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy sightseeing on my own, but with hindsight it would have been easy to travel around as Kyoto was such a welcoming city. The tours however, gave a wider appreciation of the country and the opportunity to meet other accompanying people, all of whom were very friendly; many are seasoned, but others on their first trip like myself which gave the opportunity for company when you wanted, but equally the opportunity to appreciate the sights in solitude; particularly at the more remote sites we visited.

Would I recommend it? Definitely; going to ICOLD gives the opportunity to travel somewhere you might not think to go, but with the support of some organised tours you can ensure you're seeing the highlights the area has to offer and the organising country ensure that the delegates are well looked after and provide help and advice as needed. Here's hoping to see you in Seattle!

This meeting was dedicated to the formal proceedings of the ICOLD executive. Martin Airey was in attendance as chairman of BDS and Andy Hughes as a past vice president of ICOLD, was also present. The highlights of the meeting are outlined below.

It was reported that there are now 95 member countries of ICOLD. This is no change from the number of a year ago, but there have been several expressions of interest from new countries such as Togo, Tanzania and Senegal. Hence, it is still hoped that the milestone of 100 countries will be achieved by the time of the next congress in 2015.

An election for the next President of ICOLD took place at the meeting. There were two nominated candidates; Mr Adama Nombre from Burkina Faso who was nominated by BDS, and Mr Andy Zielinski from Canada who had been put forward by Argentina. Martin presented an outline of Mr Nombre's experience, motivation and qualifications for this top job in ICOLD, and when it came to the vote Mr Nombre was elected by the narrowest of margins (32 votes to 31 votes). Mr Nombre's stated objectives and priorities for his presidency of ICOLD from 2012 to 2015 are three-fold and cover the following topics

• the strengthening of ICOLD including the regional zones and national committees

• the improvement of ICOLD's image and the promotion of young people into dam engineering

• a greater contribution to addressing the urgent needs of less developed countries and the emerging demands of developed countries in a changing world.

Two new vice presidents were also elected to replace Mr Ruggeri and Mr Ekpo. For the first of these posts (Europe zone) there were two nominations: Mr A Schleiss from Switzerland and Mr J Polimon from Spain. Mr Schleiss had been chair of the organising committee for last year's ICOLD meeting in Lucerne, and BDS members will recall Mr Polimon who presented our International Lecture in March 2012. The voting went in favour of Mr Schleiss who was duly elected, but once again it was very close with a margin of 34 votes to 29 votes. For the second post (Africa zone), Mr G Basson of South Africa was the only candidate and he was thus elected.

A number of presentations were then given regarding future ICOLD meetings and proposed venues. First USCOLD gave an update on the preparations for Seattle in 2013 and extended a warm welcome to all delegates to come to the USA for the 81st Annual Meeting that will take place in that city in August 2013. An initial bulletin for this event has been prepared and further details can be obtained via a link from the BDS website. For the 2014 meeting there were three possible locations and hence there were presentations from Sri Lanka, Indonesia (Bali) and India. All three countries provided comprehensive and impressive details of their plans and proposed venues. When it came to the vote however there was a clear preference for Bali which polled 41 of the 63 votes.

For 2015, which will also be Congress year, there was only one proposal. This was from the Norwegian Committee, and thus it was confirmed that the 83rd Meeting and 25th Congress will be held in the city of Stavanger. Initial proposals for the 2016 and 2017 meetings were presented by South Africa and the Czech Republic respectively, and final decisions on these locations will be made at future ICOLD meetings.

Four technical reports had been received and were outlined at the meeting. These covered the following topics

• sustainable design and post-closure performance of tailings dams

• supplement to the position paper on dams and the environment

• ICOLD dam decommissioning guidelines

• dams and water transfers – an overview.

Progress reports were then given for three of the technical committees as follows.

• Committee A – Computational aspects and analysis of five dams. Mr Ignacio Escuder gave an overview of the work of the committee including details on the benchmark workshop held in Valencia in October 2011, which had attracted more than 150 specialist modellers. Three themes were currently being explored in the context of dam engineering. These included the effects of concrete swelling on the stability of gravity dams, the simulation of internal erosion in earthfill embankments and the probability of failure of gravity dams through sliding failure. He added that a follow-up workshop was planned for the University of Graz in September 2013.

• Committee O – World register on dams. Mr P le Delliou described the progress that has been made with the updating of the register. He confirmed that sections of the register database will be sent to all National Committees on an annual basis for checking and for the inclusion of any new dams.

• Committee Z – Capacity building and knowledge transfer. Mr Adama Nombre who chairs this ad-hoc committee covered the initiatives that have been established for the training of young engineers including the organisation of technical tours. Programmes of training activities for dam engineers from various African countries have taken place in Morocco and Turkey. Technical tours to China took place in 2010 and 2011 and with the ongoing cooperation of ChinCOLD a further tour has been scheduled for later in 2012.

Great emphasis is now being given to the development of young engineers and to succession planning. The first Young Engineers Forum had been instigated in Lucerne in 2011. At that time there were just 20 young (under 40 years) delegates. At Kyoto it was reported that the number of young delegates had increased to 60. This was a very encouraging development and many of these younger members had produced technical papers for both the symposium and the congress. As a consequence special awards were made to three young engineers for the high quality of their papers The three awards were presented by Andy Hughes (who was one of the three members of the judging panel) and in giving the awards he commended all of the participants for their efforts, particularly when faced with the daunting task of having to deliver a technical presentation to so many senior members of the dam engineering fraternity. Unfortunately there were no entrants from the UK, but nevertheless Andy was not daunted by having to pronounce the three winners as

• First – Mr Tomo Fukuda (Japan)

• Second – Mr C Thongthanchart (Thailand)

• Third – Mr Y Chen (France).

The final items on the agenda covered the presentation of the ICOLD accounts for 2010, followed by announcements of new representatives who will be joining the different technical committees.

Before closing the meeting, the secretary general of ICOLD Mr Michel de Vivo announced two other topics. First he reported that ICOLD awards were to be made to two senior and eminent members of ICOLD for their contributions to dam engineering and for their services to ICOLD. These awards would be made to Mr Erton Carvalho from Brazil and to Professor Yoshio Ohne from Japan. He added that the awards were to be presented at the Closing Ceremony of the Congress.

Finally he explained that a new ‘World declaration’ was to be launched by ICOLD. This document has been prepared jointly with our sister organisations; the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), the International Hydropower Association (IHA) and the International Water Resources Association (IWRA). It is entitled ‘Water storage for sustainable development’ and sets out the challenges to be met and objectives to be followed in order to satisfy the continuously increasing demands for water, food and energy.

There were some fascinating papers delivered at the International Conference Centre in Kyoto with something for anyone with an interest in dam safety. Unfortunately, the themed presentations ran concurrently which led to a rapid prioritisation process throughout the day for attendees. The presentations also clashed with the 80th ICOLD executive meeting, leaving the British contingent thinly spread! Only a few papers are reflected in this write-up, more details can be provided on request or through the ICOLD website.

Jose Polimon opened the proceedings on ‘Knowledge and technology transfer in dam engineering’, with a summary of the Spanish Master's degree in the ‘Operation and safety of dams’. He built on his earlier presentation to BDS in March of this year. With characteristic vitriol, Andy Hughes stirred the emotions of the engineers present by raising many concerns ranging from the lack of succession planning and perceived deteriorating status of the engineer in our society through to the need to improve remuneration. He hit on what were to become common themes through the day

• perceived short-termism by employers

• continual organisational change

• loss of expertise as older staff retire

• the changing approach to employment expectations from the ‘Babyboomers’ to generation ‘X’ and onto generation ‘Y’.

A thoughtful approach came from David Stewart and Mike Rankine, Australia, in considering the cultural differences generated by both attitude and status of the ‘white collar’ engineer with tertiary qualifications as opposed to the ‘blue collar’ operator. In recognising that the biggest single contributor to dam safety was operational surveillance, a ‘trust model’ had been developed by the Antipodeans with three key principles

• alignment of goals

• open and effective communications

• confidence in abilities.

This then linked into knowledge transfer and operator training. Operators are predominantly directly employed by the dam owner in Australia. However, engineering expertise was often externally procured, as opposed to in-house, which created a further driver for the perceived distrust between the two parties. Facilitated workshops between designers, constructors and operators had led to improved dam safety programmes. This process was supported by coaching programmes for both new and experienced operators to enable knowledge to be effectively transferred.

Knowledge transfer by both explicit and tacit means was covered by this reporter in his presentation, who went on to outline the development of assessed operator training for Severn Trent Water (see Figure 4). ‘Employee voice’ provided the opportunity and conducive atmosphere for motivation and thus opportunity for continuous improvement. A ‘people plan’ had been developed to counter effects of employee turnover, provide a structure for succession planning and accommodate the impacts of increased workload.

Interestingly, the legal requirement in Romania requiring formal surveillance monitoring has led to dam safety assessments, which in turn had driven a comprehensive approach to training programmes.

In common with the UK, Japan has an ageing dam stock. With the exception of flood defence, no new dams have been built since 2004. The need to transfer knowledge on dam construction has led to a concerted effort in establishing a bespoke Masters course. Over the last 5 years, 41 of 63 entrants from 17 countries had graduated from the 64-h course.

A further Australian paper explored how to turn ‘unknown unknowns’ into common knowledge. Amit Channan explored the process of knowledge capture (employing both explicit and tacit methods), for retention and dissemination. A knowledge management strategy had been developed by State Water following recognition of the impacts of repeated organisational restructuring. A knowledge management forum had also been established to

• improve communications and relationships

• develop asset management systems

• transfer information of business critical activities.

Several Japanese papers explored the benefits of joint working with other countries in developing dam safety management plans and training for all levels engaged in supervision and operation of dams. University researchers from Japan and Egypt had exchanged knowledge on disaster prevention and response.

Dipping into other concurrent seminars revealed a wealth of information and knowledge. A startling statistic opened the paper by Jean-Jacques Fry highlighting the fact that ‘in France, one embankment dam fails per year’. Mechanisms for internal erosion are expounded in his paper, which lead through to eventual breaching. A stepped methodology for risk assessment is discussed. Leak detection by temperature measurement is highlighted ‘as the best method for detecting leaks up to medium depths’. Safety margins against internal erosion were also discussed.

Sedimentation of existing dams has provided much scope for papers. Intuitive sediment cones following flushing are numerically modelled by three-dimensional modelling in a paper by Mansoori from Kyoto University.

To summarise the problems that we are confronting in the UK: ageing dam stock, fewer new builds (with the notable exception of China) combined with an older workforce are shared by most countries and this provided a rich subject source for papers that will be referred to over the months and years to come.

There are 21 technical committees in total that cover a range of issues. BDS members are represented on many of these committees. From those that were able to make it to Japan there is a brief progress report on their work and on the objectives of the committee in question.

The draft of volume 1 of the ‘Bulletin on internal erosion in existing dams’ was presented to the technical committee and approved for eventual publication. It will be available from the Embankment Dams Technical Committee webspace on the ICOLD website shortly. It is accessed by giving your ICOLD number to enter the ICOLD site and a password for the Embankment Dams Technical Committee webspace, both available from Tim Fuller at ICE: Tim.Fuller@ice.org.uk.

The bulletin deals with the mechanics of internal erosion, which initiates when the hydraulic loads exceed the ability of the materials in the dam and foundation to resist them. Internal erosion is the cause of nearly half of all dam failures, and the bulletin is therefore an important contribution to dam safety engineering.

Volume 1 gives guidance on determining if internal erosion will be initiated in concentrated leaks in cracks or fractures, by backward erosion, at the contact of contrasting soils, and by suffusion. It provides methods to establish whether or not the properties of the materials in a dam will prevent or allow erosion, once initiated, to continue; and if it could continue, whether it could then progress towards a breach. Approaches to engineering analysis are proposed, providing criteria to screen out many potential failure modes (PFMs) and to focus on those PFMs through which erosion may progress towards piping and breach. To assist in decision-making in cases where the engineering analysis does not clearly conclude that the dam is vulnerable or resistant to internal erosion, brief descriptions of remediation methods, monitoring for internal erosion and quantitative risk assessment are given. The bulletin also lists the terminology used in internal erosion.

Volume 2 will deal with investigations, testing and monitoring for internal erosion, and give case histories. It is intended that the draft will be advanced to be suitable for eventual publication, as volume 1 now is, at the next ICOLD meeting in Seattle in August 2013.

The bulletin is the result of work over several years by the Internal Erosion Working Group of the ICOLD European Club (joined by colleagues from USA, Canada and Australia), under the able and enthusiastic chairmanship of Dr Jean-Jacques Fry of France. Professor Robin Fell (Australia) has been hugely generous in contributing to the draft, and Alan Brown (UK) managed the writing so as to progress the bulletin to this stage in only 3 years since the Technical Committee accepted the proposal from Russia, France and the UK to write it, at ICOLD in Brasilia in 2009.

David Paul (US) planned to prepare a draft outline of the update to Bulletin 55 (1986) by the end of 2012, the draft report would follow. The bulletin would deal with the use of all geotextiles in dams, not just geofilters. Case histories on the performance of geotextiles in dams, good or bad would be appreciated. South Africa reported some use of geotextiles in critical situations. This was not recommended in the US FEMA report on geotextiles in dams (available shortly from FEMA website). UK reported from an IGS meeting that it may be possible to design and manufacture geofilters specifically for extremely long life, thereby overcoming the durability concerns.

Spain would reconsider their proposal to update Bulletin 95 (1994) in the light of the new FEMA manual on Filters for Embankment Dams (available from its website). Guidance on cementation of filters is given in a USBR publication: USBR (2011) Binding Agents in Embankment Dam Protective Filters, Report No. DSO-11-04, prepared by Robert V. Rinehart and Mark W. Pabst. Bureau of Reclamation, Denver, Colorado.

Austria, Canada and Norway are continuing on the update to Bulletin 84 (1992) on bituminous (asphaltic) concrete core dams.

The committee on dam safety has come to the end of its extended term 2010–2012 and has completed all of the tasks under the present terms of reference.

Work continues on two topics namely – a review of dam safety legislation and regulation. The subgroup working on this has collected and reviewed 40 responses from ICOLD countries and expects to report on the various legislative frameworks and regulations by January 2013 and a document which seeks to act as an infunctional and educational document concerning risk management of dams is in draft. This document is aimed at being an information document aimed at dam safety professionals and well-informed media. This is expected to be ready within 3 months.

As the committee moves forward there are new tasks being defined, including

• development and implementation of a formal process to coordinate with the work of other ICOLD committees

• preparation of guidance on the management of dam safety for all phases of the life cycle of a dam

• review of the current state of dam safety legislation in ICOLD countries

• review of current practises of risk assessment and management of dams

• collect information on dam failures

• assessment of consequences or hazard potential resulting from dam failures.

The newly formed ICOLD committee on public safety has been established to prepare a summary report on legislation and guidelines on current practice in order to develop a much needed technical bulletin. It builds on work completed by the ICOLD European Club which is summarised in the recently published document entitled ‘Working group on public safety at dams’.

The meeting was attended by dam engineers from 13 of the 19 representative countries on the group and was chaired by Tony Bennett of Ontario Power. As this committee is in its infancy a lot of the discussions were around fact-finding and clarification of objectives. Following comprehensive introductions, comparison of legal obligations and relevant regulations for dam owners from different countries were discussed. This led into a summary of recent public safety incidents from around the world. Tragic examples where lives have been lost in the vicinity of dams were discussed and appraised.

In the United States a database has been established which details over 400 incidents that have resulted in loss of life. This database reportedly covers analysis of the incidents and goes on to record accountability and outcome of legal proceedings where applicable.

The Japanese reported a noticeable drop in suicides at the Amagase dam following the installation of massive speakers that continually played calming music. Several representatives had first-hand experience of dealing with the aftermath of suicides and suicide attempts. It was agreed that any means that results in a reduction in this tragic cause of loss of life was worth investigation and implementation.

The causes of incidents ranged from what would appear to be purely accidental events through to the deliberate ignoring of warnings and safety signs. In addition extreme sports whereby no amount of warning, education and fencing would prevent thrill seekers accessing the site were also discussed. In France social studies have been undertaken to understand why people deliberately ignore signs. Curiously the findings were inconclusive.

In Canada training programmes have been promoted by leading dam owners for rangers to actively advise recreational sportsmen such as fishermen. Clearly the challenges confronting a hydropower dam owner differ significantly because they have the means to rapidly and artificially increase the volume and velocity of water entering the downstream watercourse.

Situations across the world whereby members of the public believed that they had a right of access to the dam site were also cited.

If readers of this write-up have public safety concerns or case studies they wish to contribute they will be well received.

There were representatives of ten different countries at the meeting and a similar number of observers, reflecting the current interest in the work of the committee and the relevance of climate change to dams, reservoirs and water resources in general. This committee is one of the newer technical committees and operates under the chairmanship of Ron Lemons from USA who is ably assisted by Denis Albrecht from France. An initial presentation on the work of the committee was given at the ICOLD meeting in Hanoi and since then further progress has been made with the preparation of the technical bulletin on dams and climate change.

By its very nature some of the work of this committee overlaps with the remit of other committees; notably floods and environment. The aim of the bulletin, therefore, will be to concentrate on those aspects of dam and reservoir development that are likely to be most influenced by climatic change conditions. A number of topics have been selected for inclusion and the bulletin will be structured accordingly to describe

• setting the scene and the issues to be addressed

• climate evolution – the facts and the uncertainties

• climate change modelling

• climate-induced impacts and risk assessments for dams

• opportunities for new dams and reservoirs

• contribution of reservoirs to greenhouse gas emissions

• adaptation strategy including case histories

• recommendations for ICOLD.

The drafting of the bulletin has progressed well in the past year and each of the sections was discussed at the meeting. The proposed timetable for the final phase of the bulletin production was therefore agreed which will involve completion of the draft for each section by October 2012, final review, amendments and consolidation of the document by December 2012 and publication by ICOLD in 2013.