Long Term Benefits And Performance Of Dams

Presents proceedings the 13th Conference of the British Dam Society held at the University of Kent, June 2004. These papers include discussion on the benefits that reservoirs can provide in terms of water supply and recreation, the environmental impact they can have, and the use of geomembranes to provide water tightness.

By the year 2000, the world had built more than 45,000 large dams to irrigate crops, generate power, control floods in wet times and store water in dry times. Yet, in the last century, large dams also disrupted the ecology of half the world's rivers, displaced tens of millions of people from their homes and left nations burdened with debt. Their impacts have inevitably generated growing controversy and conflicts. Resolving their role in meeting water and energy needs is vital for the future and illustrates the complex development challenges that face our societies. The Report of the World Commission on Dams: - is the product of an unprecedented global public policy effort to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together in one process - provides the first comprehensive global and independent review of the performance and impacts of dams - presents a new framework for water and energy resources development - develops an agenda of seven strategic priorities with corresponding criteria and guidelines for future decision-making. Challenging our assumptions, the Commission sets before us the hard, rigorous and clear-eyed evidence of exactly why nations decide to build dams and how dams can affect human, plant and animal life, for better or for worse. Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making is vital reading on the future of dams as well as the changing development context where new voices, choices and options leave little room for a business-as-usual scenario.

MOP 135 provides practical information on the process of using instrumented monitoring to determine how well a dam is performing.

Prepared by the Task Committee on Guidelines for Retirement of Dams and Hydroelectric Facilities of the Hydropower Committee of the Energy Division of ASCE. This report describes techniques, methods, and procedures applicable to the retirement of dams and hydroelectric facilities. These guidelines identify types of data options; describe available engineering, environmental, and economic methods for assessing, quantifying and implementing retirement; and identify techniques for comparing and evaluating retirement costs and benefits. Topics include: data collection and analysis, studies of retirement, engineering and environmental assessment, sediment management, and review of selected case studies.

Prepared by the Task Committee on Instrumentation and Monitoring Dam Performance of the Hydropower Committee of the Energy Division of ASCE. This report is a handy and comprehensive source of information for dam owners, engineers, and regulators about instrumentation and measurements for monitoring performance of all types of dams. It presents the methodology and process for the selection, measurement instruments and techniques, installation, operation, maintenance, use, and evaluation of instrumentation and measurement systems for dams, appurtenant structures, their foundations, and environment. Topics include: factors affecting dam performance, means and methods of monitoring dam performance, planning and implementation of a monitoring program, data evaluation and reporting, and decision making. Case histories of instrumentation and monitoring programs at specific dams are provided for the reader. Product Review "I highly recommend this comprehensive reference on instrumentation used to evaluate dam performance. All owners, engineers, and regulators of dams should own a copy of this book." ?Fred Sage, Field Branch Chief, California Division of Safety of Dams

By the year 2000, the world had built more than 45,000 large dams to irrigate crops, generate power, control floods in wet times and store water in dry times. Yet, in the last century, large dams also disrupted the ecology of half the world's rivers, displaced tens of millions of people from their homes and left nations burdened with debt. Their impacts have inevitably generated growing controversy and conflicts. Resolving their role in meeting water and energy needs is vital for the future and illustrates the complex development challenges that face our societies. The Report of the World Commission on Dams: - is the product of an unprecedented global public policy effort to bring governments, the private sector and civil society together in one process - provides the first comprehensive global and independent review of the performance and impacts of dams - presents a new framework for water and energy resources development - develops an agenda of seven strategic priorities with corresponding criteria and guidelines for future decision-making. Challenging our assumptions, the Commission sets before us the hard, rigorous and clear-eyed evidence of exactly why nations decide to build dams and how dams can affect human, plant and animal life, for better or for worse. Dams and Development: A New Framework for Decision-Making is vital reading on the future of dams as well as the changing development context where new voices, choices and options leave little room for a business-as-usual scenario.

Provides critiques of current practices for environmental flow assessment and shows how they can be improved, using case studies. In Environmental Flow Assessment: Methods and Applications, four leading experts critique methods used to manage flows in regulated streams and rivers to balance environmental (instream) and out-of-stream uses of water. Intended for managers as well as practitioners, the book dissects the shortcomings of commonly used approaches, and offers practical advice for selecting and implementing better ones. The authors argue that methods for environmental flow assessment (EFA) can be defensible as well as practicable only if they squarely address uncertainty, and provide guidance for doing so. Introductory chapters describe the scientific and social reasons that EFA is hard, and provide a brief history. Because management of regulated streams starts with understanding freshwater ecosystems, Environmental Flow Assessment: Methods and Applications includes chapters on flow and organisms in streams. The following chapters assess standard and emerging methods, how they should be tested, and how they should (or should not) be applied. The book concludes with practical recommendations for implementing environmental flow assessment. Describes historical and recent trends in environmental flow assessment Directly addresses practical difficulties with applying a scientifically informed approach in contentious circumstances Serves as an effective introduction to the relevant literature, with many references to articles in related scientific fields Pays close attention to statistical issues such as sampling, estimation of statistical uncertainty, and model selection Includes recommendations for methods and approaches Examines how methods have been tested in the past and shows how they should be tested today and in the future Environmental Flow Assessment: Methods and Applications is an excellent book for biologists and specialists in allied fields such as engineering, ecology, fluvial geomorphology, environmental planning, landscape architecture, along with river managers and decision makers.