Planning for floods resulting from dam failure

Haines, R. (1995) The ANCOLD Bulletin, 100, 29-33

The paper presented to the 1993 Conference by Chas Keys addressed the work we have done in New South Wales (NSW) towards ensuring an integrated approach to the management of emergencies caused or made worse by dam failure. Chas is the State Planning Co-ordinator for the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) and has been deeply involved for the past three or four years in the development of Hood plans at local and regional level across the State. He reported how we had established an emergency management sub-committee of the Dams Safety Committee and what it had achieved. At that stage most of the achievements were tangible and included:

• A demarcation between the responsibility of a dam owner to plan for the protection of the dam structure itself and that of the SES to act as agent for downstream communities in the development of flood plans to protect those communities
• An improved understanding of how dam owners can assist the SES in their responsibilities and, conversely, how emergency management authorities might be able to help dam owners protect the integrity of their structures
• A formal emergency linkage between the management arrangements provided by the Dams Safety Act and the State Disaster Plan
• A set of procedural arrangements aimed at ensuring that dam owners, dam safety authorities, and emergency management authorities are fully informed on the status of dams and plans

As part of the process of developing these quite tangible products, we have also had to come to grips with a number of less definite matters. Four years ago there were some very definite ideas in the dam safety community on what best emergency management practice might be in this area in the Australian context. However these ideas were based on interpretations of what legal powers might be implied in existing legislation and on the transposition of observed overseas practice to Australia. What we in NSW have been able to do is base our reference framework on explicit provisions of legislation introduced in 1989 and, at the same time, to come to an understanding of the reasons underlying observed overseas practice. We have come some of the way towards redefining best emergency management practice. Unfortunately, in some respects, the redefinition appears to have been accompanied by a shift of some of the burden of work in this field away from dam owners and dam safety authorities towards emergency management agencies.

Download the research paper for more information.