Overflow erosion of levees and dams – UK practice and research needs

This paper describes the stock of levees and reservoir embankments in the United Kingdom, current practice in managing the risk of failure due to overflow, and research needs to improve their resilience to failure. It is a summary of two presentations made to the International workshop on overflow of embankment and concrete dams at Aussois in December 2017. Although the examples to illustrate points made are typically based on data for England, in general terms similar issues apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Although some of the issues are common to internal erosion, in particular the need to better understand the rate of erosion, and how quickly internal erosion could progress to failure (release of the retained water), this paper is limited to overflow erosion.