Dam safety management

Supporting your dam’s safety at every stage

We support owners and operators in managing safety throughout the life of their dams, from safety reviews and performance assessments to operating rules, dam classification, and emergency planning. These services can be provided independently or integrated into a risk governance framework that defines responsibilities, decision-making criteria, and monitoring processes.

Dam safety reviews
- Comprehensive reviews through inspections, document analysis, and specialized studies.
- Assessment of structural, geotechnical, hydrologic, hydraulic, seismic, and operational conditions.
- Integration with risk analysis to determine which deficiencies are most significant for safety.
Dam performance assessment and monitoring
- We analyze instrumentation data and historical dam performance.
- We identify trends, anomalies, and deviations from expected behavior.
- We incorporate data processing, automation, and artificial intelligence to analyze extensive time series and detect relevant patterns.
- We interpret results using specialized engineering judgment.
Operating rules
- We develop and review operating rules.
- We integrate safety, water resources management, and operating conditions.
- We assess how operating strategies influence safety.
- We define operating criteria consistent with the level of risk.
Dam classification
- Classification studies based on potential consequences and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Detailed two-dimensional hydraulic modeling.
- Consequence assessments to support classification.
Emergency action plans
- Develop and update emergency action plans.
- Integrate failure scenarios, hydraulic modeling, flood arrival times, affected areas, and consequences.
- Support the development of warning and response procedures.
- Assess how warning time and warning effectiveness influence potential loss of life.
- We provide criteria to improve emergency response.