What is BDS?
The British Dam Society (BDS) is an Associated Society of the Institution of Civil Engineers. It consists of individual and corporate members. It is open to anyone wanting to share experience or knowledge of all aspects of dams and reservoirs.
Events
BDS Movie – A Career in Dam Engineering
BDS News
Royal Society special issue - Intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes and implications for flash flood risks
Royal Society Publishing has recently published a special issue of Philosophical Transactions A entitled Intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes and implications for flash flood risks organised and edited by Hayley Fowler, Conrad Wasko and Andreas F Prein and the articles can be accessed directly at www.bit.ly/TransA-2195.
Next evening meeting
Our next on-line evening meeting together with the AGM is on 26 April at 6pm. This will be followed by a presentation on Emergency Planning for Reservoirs. Further details including the full list of presenters will be made available on our website shortly.
Extreme flood research
The Environment Agency has started a new project which aims to improve Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) and Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) estimation for reservoir safety.
The project aims to assess the suitability of existing methods for estimating PMP and PMF and develop new methods and guidelines to ensure that we understand the risk posed to our highest risk reservoirs from extreme flood events. You can find further details here. Please click "Read More" for more information.
NRW position statement on risk designation and first inspection of statutory reservoirs in Wales
Natural Resources Wales have recently published an important position statement relating to the processes for risk designation and first inspection of statutory reservoirs of between 10,000 – 25,000m3 capacity. You can find the document here.
Outcome of the Defra consultation on on-site plans
Defra has published the results on the consultation on on-site plans and presented the Government response. The key points are:
- On-site plans will be mandatory for all regulated reservoirs (‘high risk’ and ‘not high risk’ reservoirs)
- The plan requirements will be set with respect to the risk designation.
- Updated guidance on preparing on-site plans will be developed and published.
- New reservoir inundation maps will be published in 2021 by the Environment Agency.
- A strategy for training in relation to emergency planning will be developed.
You can read the full report here.
ICOLD General Assembly
The ICOLD General Assembly met on-line on 30 November 2020. The meeting was chaired by ICOLD President Michael Rogers.
The impact of the pandemic on the activities of ICOLD was discussed. The Annual Meeting scheduled to take place in New Delhi, India has been re-scheduled to 2023.
Please click 'read more' to see a more detailed summary of the online meeting.
ICOLD Call for Mentors
ICOLD are seeking experienced engineers to act as mentors as part of the ICOLD 2021 conference in Marseille to assist our international young professionals. You can find full details here.
EA and NRW reservoir safety guidance relating to the pandemic
NRW has updated its guidance regarding compliance during Covid-19 restrictions and can be found here. The EA’s advice, published in April, remains valid and can be found here.
NRW also advise that with the increased use of social media to showcase work there is an increased risk that photos, diagrams and other information may reveal sensitive detail and expose vulnerabilities. Even small pieces of information, when pieced together over time can be harmful if accessed by anyone with a malicious intent. Before posting material about reservoir construction or maintenance, you are advised to seek the approval of the reservoir undertaker.
Dams and Reservoirs Journal – position of editor
Anthea Peters has decided to stand down as our editor of Dams and Reservoirs after many years in the position. We would like to thank Anthea for her fantastic contribution to the BDS through her work as editor. We are therefore seeking expressions of interest from any member who would like to be considered for the role. The successful applicant would join the BDS Committee as an Honorary Officer. If you are interested in this role please contact our Technical Secretary, Andrew Thompson (hontechsec@britishdams.org) by the end of November.
BDS YouTube channel
The BDS has recently created a playlist on our ‘YouTube’ page of videos from around the web related to dam safety and history that we feel may be of interest to our members. From educational videos about dam engineering principles to fascinating history of some of the UKs most iconic dams, we have curated many nuggets of information that provide insights into the world of dam engineering. The playlist can be viewed here. Whilst every care has been taken to check the links are appropriate, the BDS is not responsible for the content or comments on these 3rd party videos.