Of dam owners, dam safety authorities and emergency managers: A NSW perspective

Keys, C. (1994) The ANCOLD Bulletin, 96, 76-83

In the wake of the mid-1980s revisions of Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) and Probable Maximum Flood (PMF) estimates and the discovery that certain dams may have problems relating to structural stability, planning for the protection of dams and the communities below them has assumed a high priority. Initially, this planning was conducted on an ad hoc basis, the rules which governed it developing case by case and with little clear codification or formalisation. Not surprisingly, uncertainty arose over several aspects of the process and numerous questions were posed. Who was responsible for the planning? What should be the scope of the plans themselves? For which dams were plans needed? What legislation should guide the planning process? What information was needed for meaningful plans to be prepared? Who were to be the players involved, and what were to be their responsibilities?

This paper focuses on the development of a New South Wales (NSW) approach to answer these questions and to build a set of arrangements by which planning to protect communities below dams can proceed. In doing so, it will also comment briefly on the relationship between practice as it is developing in NSW and the planning guidelines which are being developed at a national level.

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