That's dam challenging: Global learnings for dam raising projects
At a glance
Australia is a continent of extremes, facing the dual challenges of droughts and floods that threaten our water security and the safety of our communities and ecosystems. To help meet future water needs, safe and cost-effective water infrastructure solutions are needed. One way to do this is to repurpose and augment our dams, including raising dams.Capturing insights from dam owner-operators across Australia, including international dam wall-raising experts from GHD, Black & Veatch, Damwatch and Gruner Stucky, we created a comprehensive guide to share knowledge and stimulate discussion around the critical considerations for raising an existing dam, often while keeping the dam operational.
Download the guide: That's dam challenging
Inside the guide
While relatively uncommon in Australia, dam wall raising has gained attention in recent years. It involves increasing the height and capacity of existing dams to provide more storage, flood mitigation, and hydropower benefits.
Dam raising can be a cost-effective and sustainable way to upgrade existing dams, including increasing storage capacity or spillway discharge, and to meet the challenges posed by climate change and increasing water demand. It can also improve the performance and safety of old dams, benefiting communities and the environment.
However, dam raising projects face complex operational constraints and a wide range of engineering issues associated with managing dam safety and aligning modified dams with modern guidelines and industry practice.
Before embarking on dam wall raising projects, there are four factors that dam owners and operators should consider:
- Understanding the drivers for raising dam walls
- Balancing the environmental and social impacts
- Embedding sustainability across the project lifecycle
- Addressing the technical challenges
By applying best practices and lessons learned from successful examples around the world, dam raising can be a win-win strategy for dam owners, users, and stakeholders.
As an industry, we must work together, sharing experience, expertise and learnings to approach these projects successfully and help meet the increasing demands being placed on our existing resources and water infrastructure."
Real-world examples
Dam wall raising projects are complex and challenging engineering endeavours that require careful planning and design to address the technical issues that may arise. Within the guide, we spotlight several dams around the world to understand the different dam wall raising methods, the considerations for each method, and the lessons learned on each dam project. These real-world examples include:
- Cotter Dam, Australian Capital Territory
- Porters Creek Dam, New South Wales
- Boosport Dam, South Africa
- Tzaneem Dam, South Africa
- Vieux Emosson Dam, Switzerland
- Cambabe Dam, Angola