This book addresses current international practices applied for dam
safety assessments by looking at a portfolio of dam safety projects in
various developing countries (Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Mauritius,
Madagascar, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Vietnam) spread across three
continents (Europe, Africa and Asia). Safety assessment involved the
review of 134 existing dams and comparison with the best international
practices. A large part of dam safety assessment involves understanding
of dam hazards, standards applied in the design and maintenance, as well
as expectation and social circumstances under which the dams have been
designed and constructed in a particular country. For example, standards
for design floods, ground investigation, selection of design soil
parameters and design earthquakes etc. used are often either
non-existent or inadequate, which could lead to an unsafe design. If
there are no standards to be applied in dam design and construction,
consultants are often under pressure from clients to come up with
minimalistic investigation and designs, which, after a few years after
dam construction, show signs of deficiencies. Very often countries have
no regulations and standards for requirements that should cover the
maintenance and operation of dams.
The book also describes the Portfolio Risk Assessment of Dams, which can
be used as a tool by clients and the funding agencies to identify
priority assessment and rehabilitation projects that consider societal
and economic losses. It also demonstrates how the implementation of
Emergency Preparedness Planning could significantly reduce the number of
people at risk.
This book aims to help clients, consultants and funding agencies which
are engaged in dam safety assessment projects in developing countries to
focus on issues that are based on past lessons learnt.
