The 17th biennial conference of the British Dam Society (BDS) took place at the University of Leeds, with tours to several of Yorkshire Water's reservoirs, and the conference banquet in the Royal Armouries Hall.
A pre-conference tour to Stanedge tunnel and Butterley reservoir was arranged for Wednesday and, while this is reported upon separately, it is interesting to note that on the short walk back to the coach along the canal towpath, a lucky bargee had the benefit of 30 engineers to help him get his boat stuck in a lock! The Accompanying Persons programme also ran in parallel throughout the conference.
The conference was formally opened on Thursday morning by the British Dam Society (BDS) chairman Martin Airey who introduced the theme of the conference ‘Dams: engineering in a social and environmental context’. He remarked upon the number of delegates being above 200 and particularly welcomed the younger members that were present. We were then welcomed by the Dean of Engineering Peter Jimack, who admitted that he had not been born in Yorkshire, and despite his best efforts and his having worked there for many years, could still not be recognised as a true Yorkshireman. He drew our attention to the historical wool and textile industries in Leeds, which had fostered both the University and the proliferation of dams in the area. Peter Kelham, the chairman of the organising committee, then went through the organisational arrangements for the next 3 days (Figure 1).
Session 1 started promptly under the chairmanship of Martin Airey. Chris Scott reviewed the fundamental principles of reservoir safety legislation and explored whether they remain fit for purpose in the twenty-first century. David Porter followed with an interesting paper which highlighted the fact that there is no regulation for the inspection and maintenance of the 156 reservoirs in Northern Ireland that hold in excess of 10 000 m3 of water. Alan Warren then discussed the question of whether a reservoir falls within the ambit of the Reservoirs Act 1975, and Chris Vyse ended the session with a review of what other countries use for design flood events. This revealed that only four countries from the 12 studied use the probable maximum flood (PMF). The technical reporter for this session was Martin Deane.
After a coffee break in Parkinson Court, where there was an opportunity to visit the various trade stands (Figure 2), Session 2 ‘Geotechnical issues of dam construction and maintenance’, commenced under the chairmanship of Stuart King with Duncan Scott as the technical reporter.
Giles Hird presented the first paper on monitoring embankment performance during the raising of Abberton reservoir, and gave some valuable lessons learnt in respect of instrumentation during a major earthworks project. This was followed by a paper on aspects of embankment dams constructed on Mercia Mudstone by Tim Blower and another on the design and construction of Gleann Astaile, a geomembrane lined embankment dam by Matthew Hill. The session ended with a paper by Mark Morris on recent improvements in predicting breach through flood embankments and embankment dams. This gave examples of which method would be appropriate, and suggested further research in model development for breach prediction.
A splendid buffet lunch in the refectory was followed by Session 3 ‘Risk-related aspects of reservoirs and their operation’. The chairman was Craig Goff and the technical reporter Alex Topple. Mark Morris commenced with a paper illustrating the progress made in developing a risk assessment method for dams based on a risk assessment in reservoir safety management (RARS) approach. This was followed by a paper on observations on the boundary between high and lower risk reservoirs by Alan Brown and P. Gotch. This suggested key issues which need to be considered in defining the boundary if public confidence in the regulatory system is to be maintained. Paul Roberts then gave a paper on flood contingency planning during construction on reservoir embankments, which concluded that events should be categorised by their effect, such as overflow activation, spillway chute capacity exceeded and embankment overtopping. The final paper in this session was given by David Windsor, who described an on-site emergency draw-down plan carried out at Pebley reservoir.
After the coffee break, Henry Hewlett chaired Session 4 ‘Construction – initiatives and innovation’, with Anthea Peters as the technical reporter. The first paper by Newman Booth, tackled the thorny issue of spillway capacity in Yorkshire, and illustrated the cost efficacy of model testing to produce alternative solutions. This was followed by Richard Robson's paper on the reservoirs of the Holme valley which outlined the history and hydrology of the valley and explained the differences in construction and design of the new spillways. The third paper by Peter Down on the physical testing of a stepped masonry spillway, concluding that a large scale section (minimum 1:10) is necessary to gain hydro-dynamic pressure fluctuation data. The final paper in this session was given by David Bull and Jon Walker, who looked at the use of precast sections in service reservoirs and then developed this for use in reservoir spillway channels.
At 17:15 prompt, we were taken by coach to the Royal Armouries for the Geoffrey Binnie Lecture given by Jonathan Hinks. Jonathan gave us a varied and interesting lecture on the modern dam engineer, which is reported separately. A pre-dinner reception followed with a live demonstration of medieval sword fighting skills (Figure 3), and then a splendid banquet served in the Royal Armouries Hall.
The dinner proved an excellent opportunity for socialising and networking (Figure 4) and Martin Airey, the chairman of the BDS, gave an after-dinner speech followed by the President of The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM), who reminded us of the environmental responsibility we carry in our professional endeavours. The entertainment was provided by a policeman who is taking a career-break from his normal duties to indulge in after-dinner speaking. It was generally considered that this career break would not be overly long. Returning from the Royal Armouries, many delegates made full use of the Student Union Bar and Club facilities in an attempt to pass on professional knowledge and learning skills.
Session 5 ‘Environmental considerations of dam construction and repair’, started early on Friday with Ian Hope in the chair and Ranjit Seehra as technical reporter. The first paper was by P Burt, who considered environmental issues and processes when undertaking dam works. This was followed by Anthea Peters who presented a paper on ‘Mill Beck: a lesson in Reservoir safety works aligned with public engagement and a participatory design process’. She summarised that the continuous process of engagement resulted in a modified design, leaving scope for the local community to influence the aesthetics of the scheme. Mark Bailes then presented a paper on the discontinuance of Baystone Bank reservoir and the restoration of Whicham Beck, illustrating that the lessons learnt from the project have been successfully transferred to other reservoir discontinuance schemes. The following paper by Tony Bruggeman described how badger setts had been grouted within an embankment and gave a detailed account of how the badgers had been relocated downstream of the reservoir. Paul Williams ended the session with his paper on environmental and social impacts of dams in India, concluding that both central and state governments are balancing sustainable development against the needs for growth, but querying whether this development has been delayed too long to prevent major water shortages in the future.
At 10:15 prompt we arrived at the coaches for the four tours that were organised. A minor hiccup with the size of coaches against the size of the parties was soon remedied and four very enjoyable tours commenced. The tours, A to D, are reported upon separately, but Figure 5 shows members of Tour A at a shrine built over the valve tower at Scammonden reservoir.
The meal on Friday evening in the refectory was of excellent quality, and was followed by the Andy Hughes quiz. Owing to disqualification in the Strathclyde quiz in 2010, many teams adopted a more concealed method of referring to apps on their mobiles, and as usual the best team lost. The winning answer in a close fought contest demanded a knowledge of the make of Andy's cars, and for future reference, as the same question will probably be used again, the answer is Land Rover and Jaguar.
The rest of the evening was spent in the Union Bar, networking, socialising and making every effort to show that the skills needed in pool tournaments were not forgotten.
Saturday morning was approached in an alert fashion, and Session 6 was chaired by Peter Mason with Giles Hird as the technical reporter. A very informative paper on the Hull tidal surge barrier was given by A Newton and D Griffiths, where lessons learnt in the design of structures for future maintenance were clearly illustrated. A paper on the physical and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) modelling of a labyrinth spillway for Penwhirn reservoir was then presented by C Thornton and S MacCarthy, which concluded that cost efficient design could be achieved by undertaking both methods of analysis. The third paper was by Ian Scholefield on ‘The Coldwell Lower reservoir – weighted filter, wave wall and overflow improvements’, and this was followed by the final paper by Matthew Hill on the design and construction of the 27 m high, 440 m long Kargu dam in Brunei Darussalam.
A coffee break followed in Parkinson Court, and the final Session 7 commenced with Andy Hughes as chairman and Chris Vyse as the technical reporter. A presentation by Pam Rigby assisted by Keith Gardiner on the remedial grouting works at Upper Rivington reservoir with specific reference to the ‘Toolbox’ evaluation was followed by David Brown's paper on recent incidents at canal reservoirs. Remedial works at Sunderton Pool were then described by Mark Acford and Robin Wood, followed by the final paper on restoring storage capacity at Roseau reservoir in Saint Lucia by Shaun Yeoh.
To wrap things up Martin Airey then closed the conference, thanking our hosts, the University of Leeds, for their excellent hospitality, presenting flowers to Anthea Peters, Barbara Sharp and Sue Spink and giving particular thanks to Andy Pepper, Andy Hughes, Henry Hewlett and Peter Kelham.
The delegates then retired to the refectory for a buffet lunch, where praise for the organisation of the conference, the variety of papers and the social events was unanimous.
