Next Talk February 16, 2012

Large Dams, Small Dams or No Dams
Speaker: Dr. George Annandale, Principal at Golder Associates Inc.

The construction, operation and decommissioning of dams used for water supply and power generation are controversial. In this talk Dr. Annandale will mainly focus on the issue of sustainable fresh water supply from rivers. He indicates where in the world it is necessary to construct large dams and where small dams or even no dams may suffice to reliably and sustainably supply fresh water from rivers. He will demonstrate that climate change will require increased storage to maintain water supply at desired levels of reliability. By making use of a case study it will be illustrated that the number of suitable sites where dams can be built to reliably supply water is limited and that reservoir sedimentation management is necessary to indefinitely maintain reservoir storage and sustainably supply water to current and future generations of man. It is concluded that economic evaluation techniques, environmental requirements and engineering design norms need to change to ensure sustainable supply of fresh water in a reliable manner.