1999 – Dams and the Environment – Issues and Guidelines
T.W. Macoun
ANCOLD Environmental Guidelines have been under preparation for a considerable time. A brief for their preparation followed a resolution by the ANCOLD executive in 1991] that:
“ANCOLD should be seen by the profession and the community as a credible and informed source of information on the risks and benefits associated with dam projects.”
Why the guidelines were initiated, why they have taken the time they have to prepare and what they cover are described in this paper.
To the author’s knowledge, they are the only guidelines of their type, addressing the environmental effects of dams and associated works. It is hoped that they generate substantive debate. This paper initiates the public comments phase.
The paper has two purposes:
° = To introduce the guidelines ° To use the guidelines to introduce this environmental issues session of this conference
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1999 Papers
1999 – Wingecarribee Reservoir Swamp Failure
Learn moreKumara Arachchi and Kelvin J Lambkin
Wetlands by their very nature act as storages of pollutants and nutrients in systems subject to environmental stresses. Wingecarribee Swamp acted in this manner and enhanced the quality of catchment runoff flowing into the Wingecarribee Reservoir until the structural failure of early August 1998 in which 6000 megalitres of peat and sedimentary material were moved into the Reservoir. Protection of the Swamp’s functions and values is directly related to Sydney Catchment Authority’s core objectives of protecting the environment and protecting public health by supplying drinking water of acceptable quality. Due to the catastrophic failure, water quality in the reservoir and the ecological integrity of the Swamp have been compromised. The incident has also resulted in significant dam safety issues.
This paper describes the dam safety, catchment management and water quality response to the failure of a major peatland which covered 8% of the catchment of Wingecarribee Reservoir in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Real Time Flood Management of the Brisbane River and Pine River Dams During the February 1999 Flood
Learn morePeter Allen, Don Cock, Garry Grant and John Ruffini
The paper examines the performance of the Brisbane River and Pine River real time flood management system for the operation of Somerset Dam, Wivenhoe Dam and North Pine Dam during the 1999 flood event.
The February flood event, which was about 80% of the magnitude of the disastrous 1974 flood event upstream of Wivenhoe Dam, was the first major flood event to be managed by the system and it performed very creditably. The overall flood management system comprises:-
A network of 125 ALERT type rainfall and river height stations throughout the catchment; A data management system to facilitate data collection and data validation;- Hydrologic models to provide inflows into the dams and major downstream tributaries; Gate operation models to route the inflows through the reservoirs; and
- Hydraulic models of the main river channels downstream of the dams.
The paper describes the system and gives details of the performance of the system during the February event. It details the performance of the dams during the event and how this was optimised to maximise the safety of the dams and minimise impacts on those downstream.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Kinta RCC Dam – Are Over-Simplified Thermal – Structural Analyses Valid?
Learn moreAllan J Crichton , Ikhlef Benzenati, Tony J Qiu and Jon T Williams
The Sg Kinta Dam is a 90 m high Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) gravity dam and is expected to be the first RCC dam in Malaysia when construction commences in 2000. The dam is part of the development of the Ipoh Water supply on mainland Malaysia. A thermal – structural analysis has been completed as part of detailed design using ANSYS finite element analysis software to assess the effect of the heat of hydration of the RCC on resulting structural stresses. The effect of using simple linear elastic material properties on the calculated stresses has been compared to more complex time variant material modulus and creep analyses. From these comparisons it is shown that the simple models overestimate initial stresses and underestimate or cannot predict the long term tensile stresses.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Finding The Balance – A Community-led Review of the Operation of Hume and Dartmouth Dams
Learn moreBrian Haisman, Clarke Ballard and Neville Garland
In early 1997 the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council instigated a review of the operations of its primary reservoirs, the Hume and Dartmouth Dams, in response to concerns of floodplain communities below the dams, coupled with changing community values in relation to the in-stream environmental effects of dams. The review, completed in May 1999, achieved a consensus between parties advocating what are on the surface irreconcilable objectives for the management of the water resource. Foremost competing objectives were flood mitigation, consumptive water use, and environmental health of the river system, plus subsidiary objectives related to recreation, hydro-electric generation, salinity management, tourism and the like. The keys to success were firstly, creation of a community-based Reference Panel which took on a steering role coupled with extensive consultation, and secondly a determination to describe situations wherever possible by means of factual information. The paper describes the identification and evaluation of issues, the consensus building process, the intensive hydrology and economic modelling undertaken, and the development of a comprehensive set of flow parameters which could be viewed as surrogates for environmental outcomes. Conclusions and recommendations are drawn for future reviews of similar dams.
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1999 Papers
1999 – Dam Safety Management using the Asset Safety Evaluation Tool in the Hydro Electric Corporation Tasmania
Learn morePeter Quinlan and Sergio Giudici
The Hydro Electric Corporation (HEC) owns and manages 54 large and referable dams across Tasmania. Monitoring, data storage and data utilisation techniques have evolved significantly over the years as the dams have aged and as instrumentation, communication and data management technologies have advanced. This paper describes the development of the HEC’s ‘Asset Safety Evaluation Tool’ (ASET) for acquisition, management and interpretation of data relating to dam safety management. The paper also provides examples of how ASET has been applied within the HEC to demonstrate how the primary functional development goals of robustness and practicality have been achieved.
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