Latest News

Water Power & Dam Construction - A Work Place for Women - Article by BDS Chair

The current BDS Chair, Tracey Williamson, was interviewed by Water Power & Dam Construction and talks about being the first female BDS Chair and the importance of promoting women in Dam Engineering

ICOLD Circular Letters

ICOLD Circular Letters: The following letters have been circulated by ICOLD Committees for comment:

CL 1934 – A paper “Dam Surveillance - Lessons learnt from case histories” submitted by the Committee on Dam Surveillance,
CL 1935 – The final agenda of the ICOLD 86th General Assembly is available.

Internal Erosion Update

Our representative on the ICOLD Embankments Technical Committee, Rod Bridle, has sent the following update:

This year there are two Internal Erosion Meetings, ICSE9 in Taiwan in November and the 26th European Working Group on Internal Erosion (EWGIE) in Milan.

The Environment Agency has advised that they are going to develop a ‘Flood Hydrology Road Map’ to set out a future vision for flood hydrology and a plan to deliver it across both forecasting and long-term flood risk, which will cover reservoir flood hydrology.

New Environmental Permitting Guidance for Reservoir Operators Produced by the Environment Agency

The Environment Agency, which regulates discharges from reservoir scour valves in England, has produced new environmental permitting guidance for reservoir operators.

Reservoirs (Scotland) Act 2011 - New Guidance on Discontinuance and Abandonment

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), who regulate reservoirs in Scotland under the Reservoirs (Scotland) Act 2011, has produced some new guidance on Discontinuance and Abandonment.

A Guide to Breach Prediction

Under the supervision of breach experts, Dr Mark Morris and Dr Mohamed Hassan, at HR Wallingford, a summer student from Surrey University undertook an independent review of the current state-of-breach models available across the world, and produced a ‘Dummies Guide’ type report on the different techniques that can be used to model a breach

ICOLD European Club Dam Legislation report

The Working Group on Dam Legislation has re-issued this report following an update by the Netherlands.

ICOLD Circular Letters

ICOLD Circular Letters: The following letters have been circulated by ICOLD Committees for comment:

CL 1928 – A paper “Blockage of Spillways and Outlet Works” submitted by the Committee on Hydraulics for Dams & the Committee on Flood Evaluation and Dam Safety is being circulated for consideration,
CL 1929 – A paper on “Roller-Compacted Concrete Dams” submitted by the Committee on Concrete Dams is being circulated for consideration,
CL 1931 – A paper on “Operation of Hydraulic Structures of Dams” submitted by the Committee on Operation, Maintenance and Rehabilitation of Dams is being circulated for consideration,
CL 1933 – A paper on “Asphalt Concrete Cores for Embankment Dams” submitted by the Committee on Embankment Dams is being circulated for consideration.

Be Part of the ICE200 Bicentenary Celebrations

Two hundred videos are being created and promoted on the ICE website on the ‘What is Civil Engineering?’ web pages. View the first 20 already uploaded.

Link to the ICE website here.

UK Reservoir Engineers Cited in Dam Inspection Special Feature of International Water Power & Dam Construction Publication

The Modern Dam Engineer article in the November editon of the International Water Power & Dam Construction Publication.

Like many industries, the dam industry is influenced by both internal and external factors which can prompt change. IWP&DC was interested in finding out if such elements have affected the engineer's working life when inspecting dams. We asked members of the industry for their own thoughts about the role of the modern dam engineer: Has this changed in recent years? Are engineers faced with increased challenges? And will this role continue to evolve?

Reservoir Panel Engineer Applications 2018 - Key Dates

Key dates in relation to submitting Reservoir Panel Engineer Applications

EA Reservoir Safety Biennial Report: April 2015 to December 2016

The EA have published their Biennial reservoir safety report.

New research kicks off on the performance of dams under overtopping

There is a recognition of the need to better understand performance of both flood defence and reservoir embankments in resisting erosion under overtopping. In the UK, it is planned in due course to carry out a comprehensive five year research project to include field trials to assess erodibility of grass and soil. This coincides with ICOLD setting up a technical committee on Levees, set up to build upon ongoing collaboration between similar existing committees in the US and Europe. EURCOLD is holding an International Workshop on Embankment and Concrete Dams Overflowing Erosion in France in December, with a number of representatives from the UK attending.

Defra FD2701 FWMA implementation and SRR Evidence base research

Defra have awarded a contract to Mott MacDonald to review implementation of the Floods and Water Management Act (FWMA) 2010 in England, in particular the risk designation process, and also to review what evidence is available which might justify commencement of the reduction in the threshold to small raised reservoirs (SRR) between 10,000 and 25,000m³.

Natural Resources Wales Guide to Reservoir Safety Charging Scheme

Natural Resources Wales have published a guide detailing their 2017-2018 Reservoir Safety Charging Scheme.

Reservoirs Act 1975 (England) - Enforcement Authority's Interpretation of The Supervising Engineer's Statement Requirements

The Environment Agency, as Enforcement Authority for England, have produced their interpretation of the Supervising Engineer’s statement requirements under the Reservoirs Act 1975 in England.

ICOLD Circulars

We regularly receive circulars from ICOLD, much of which is administrative, but some is of interest to the wider BDS membership. This Article includes a summary of recently published Technical Bulletins and how BDS Members may obtain access to the bulletins.

Guide To Drawdown Capacity For Reservoir Safety And Emergency Planning

Message from the Environment Agency.

We are pleased to inform you that the 'Guide to drawdown capacity for reservoir safety and emergency planning' has been published on GOV.UK. It can be accessed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-drawdown-capacity-for-reservoir-safety-and-emergency-planning

Regards,

Environment Agency

Internal Erosion News

Conference reports:

Rodney Bridle (UK Member ICOLD Technical Committee on Embankment Dams) has recently circulated copies of his informal Internal Erosion News, reporting on internal erosion aspects of Geo-risk 2017 in Denver and ICOLD in Prague (available below).

United States Society on Dams (USSD) note on a Workshop on 'Dry dams and levees' is also attached here, this is another area where internal erosion is a threat.

Reservoir Panel Engineer System Cited as Model for Fire Safety in Buildings

In the current New Civil Engineer there is an article on the Grenfell Tower incident which references the Panel Engineer system that is used to promote reservoir safety. It questions whether a similar system should be set up to reduce the risk of fire in buildings by certifying qualified risk assessors. This is positive acknowledgement of the success of our national reservoir safety legislation.