Evaluation of the safety of "authorised" dams

Abstract

Cemagref was asked by the French Ministry for the Environment to assess the safety of, and the monitoring and maintenance programmes for, dams which come under the Ministry's authority. In total, 361 dams spread over 67 French departments were inspected. The dams fulfil a variety of functions including drinking water supply, irrigation water supply, flood control, low water level maintenance and sports and recreation. For the most part, the dams are owned by many widely dispersed owners, without any specialist expertise in dams technology, unlike in the case of hydroelectric dams which are used and managed by a few highly specialised organisations. Despite a dam restoration and upgrading programme, which has been running for some twenty years, several dams still do not fully satisfy so-called modern design criteria, in particular with respect to floodwater evacuation capacity, overall dam condition and stability. In addition, the monitoring and assessment of these structures needs to be markedly improved.