Report a dam safety incident
It is the DSC's policy that information, valuable to both the DSC for evaluation of future dam proposals, and the dam's industry in general, should be obtained by monitoring various aspects of current dam practices and operations world-wide and including relevant matters in its internal database. The DSC therefore maintains close links with the world-wide dam community and requires owners of prescribed dams to report on any dam safety incident at their dams.
Upon an owner becoming aware of safety incidents or failures, as described below, a report is to be provided to the DSC as soon as reasonably practicable if there are immediate or imminent implications for dam safety (see DSEP requirements in DSC13) or otherwise in the next surveillance report.
Safety incidents or failures are to be reported in the following categories:
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Any change observed in the dam or its surrounds which could indicate an increased vulnerability to failure (e.g. sudden increase in seepage flow not related to rainfall, appearance of turbid or new seepage appearance of cracking in the dam);
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Incidents which could interfere with correct functioning of the dam (e.g. landslides, malfunction of valves or spillway gate operating equipment);
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Damage to the dam or ancillary structures (such as from flood, earthquake or fire);
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Breaches of security with implications for dam safety;
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Failures in the dam or ancillary structures without loss of dam storage;
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Failures in the dam with loss of dam storage but without a catastrophic breach;
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Failures in the dam with loss of dam storage due to a catastrophic breach.
For any incident or failure with immediate or imminent implications for dam safety, reporting is to be in two stages, an immediate report of date, time and immediately observable facts and a subsequent more detailed and more considered report that identifies the cause and incident mechanism so far as possible. Such reports are held by DSC for reference and for wider dam owner education uses, with appropriate protection of confidentiality (see UK Environment Agency 2007 for practice in the UK). If, in the opinion of the owner, the incident or failure requires investigation, a list of activities and time schedule are to be provided.
Other incidents or failures are to be reported in surveillance reports (see DSC15).