Australasia | Dams down under
New Zealand’s dam industry, Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin, and Queensland’s dam projects face critical junctures, a roundup of developments across Australasia suggest
Above: Odonata CEO Sam Marwood (left) and MDBA Chief Executive Andrew McConville launch the spring sampling season for the Great Australian Wildlife Search which uses innovative environmental technology to gain insights into threatened species across the Murray-Darling Basin’s waterways
NEW ZEALAND’S DAM INDUSTRY is at a pivotal juncture as it prepares for new safety regulations to come into force in May 2024. As Kaley Crawford-Flett, Chair of the New Zealand Society on Large Dams (NZSOLD) said, significant activities and dialogues are underway across technical, regulatory, and industry sectors, while NZSOLD is currently in the process of updating the country’s dam safety guidelines to encompass the latest advancements in industry practice. New Zealand was one of the few countries in the OECD that did not have an operative dam safety framework. The new regulations were announced in May 2022 by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment (MBIE) to protect people, property, and the environment from the potential impacts of dam failures, setting a minimum requirement for dam safety across the country. “From 13 May 2024, the owners of dams that meet the height and volume requirements will need to confirm the potential risk their dam poses, put in place safety plans and undertake regular dam inspections. This will help to ensure that an essential part of New Zealand’s infrastructure remains safe and reliable,” Amy Moorhead, Manager of Building Policy at MBIE, said. “The new regulatory framework will reduce the likelihood of dam failures which have the potential to cause significant harm a great distance downstream.” Dams that fall within the scope of the regulations will be given an impact classification based on their potential to cause harm in the event of failure. Medium and high potential impact dams will be required to have a dam safety assurance programme and regular monitoring and surveillance practices in place. Low potential impact dams will have no ongoing requirements except for their initial classifications and then regular classification reviews every five years. “Most small farm dams and ponds and weirs will be
excluded from the regulatory framework as they are unlikely to meet the minimum size or storage volume thresholds,” Moorhead said. The new dam safety regulations also require dam owners to review their dams against flood performance criteria every five years as part of a comprehensive safety review.
“Our understanding of the effects of climate change is continuing to improve with time. We want to ensure the new safety provisions remain fit for purpose in a changing environment,” Moorhead added. The regulations will apply to dams that are: 4m or higher with a volume of 20,000m3 1m or higher with a volume of 40,000m3
or or greater.
Once the regulations come into effect in May 2024 dam owners will have up to two years to undertake the necessary work to classify their dam and put in place a dam safety assurance programme. NZSOLD has worked in collaboration with MBIE and Engineering New Zealand to provide input to the
12 | December 2023 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
new regulations, and says that it strongly supports the post-construction dam safety guidelines as they will create a stronger, consistent regulatory framework for the active management, inspection, and maintenance of dams, helping to ensure their ongoing safety. Along with Engineering New Zealand and MBIE, NZSOLD is actively developing a programme for assessing and registering recognised engineers to support compliance with the new dam safety regulations and includes the development of a framework for assessing the required qualifications and competencies for the roles. “Dam owners, practitioners, regulators, and the wider community are faced with an opportunity to enhance dam safety management and improve the systems that support critical infrastructure in New Zealand. As our nation faces climate change and population growth, we have an opportunity to improve the management of the thousands of dams that provide New Zealanders with power, water, and flood resilience,” Crawford- Flett said. “However, these changes in both regulation and industry practices present challenges for our communities and industry sectors. These challenges include aspects such as organisational change, recruitment, resource availability, and affordability. What we choose to do now,” she warned, “has the potential to set precedent for decades to come.”
A critical stage As Andrew McConville, Chief Executive of the Murray–
Darling Basin Authority in Australia said, “one of the most essential things you have to do well is connect abstract policies to real, lived experience”. The Murray–Darling Basin, the largest and one of the most complex river systems in Australia, covers one million square kilometres across New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. After years of drought and increasing water demand led to a decline in the basin’s health, there was widespread government agreement in 2012 for a plan to manage water supplies and protect the basin for future generations. The resulting Murray–Darling Basin Plan aims to manage the basin as a whole connected system and bring it back to a healthier and sustainable level, while continuing to support farming and other industries for the benefit of the Australian community. McConville said that the MDBA relies on communities and organisations across the basin “to connect the dots between the basin plan as it’s written, and the real, on-the-ground experience as it is lived”. “When it comes to working in contested spaces, this is not my first rodeo,” he said. “But in my time at the MDBA, it never ceases to amaze me: everywhere I’ve been, and everyone I’ve spoken to about the basin plan – they’ve all got a view and an opinion – mostly about what I need to be doing better. But one opinion stands out above all others - everyone agrees we need
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