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Geotechnical News • December 2014
53
GEO-INTEREST
A note on Review Engineer assignment for dam safety review
in British Columbia
Ali Ameli
Preamble
In British Columbia (BC), Dam
Safety Review studies are based on
the “Health, Safety and Reclamation
Code of Mines” (2008) for min-
ing dams and the “BC Dam Safety
Regulation” (2011) for dams regulated
under Water Act. The studies gener-
ally refer to Dam Safety Guidelines of
Canadian Dam Association (CDA) as
well as provincial guidelines including
BC Dam Safety Review Guidelines
(2012) and the Association of Profes-
sional Engineers and Geoscientists of
BC (APEGBC) Professional Practice
Guidelines (2013). CDA and AEGBC
Guidelines were recently updated to
include items specific to mining dams.
Dams are primarily classified based on
consequence of failure in terms of the
risks to people, property, infrastruc-
ture, cultural values and the environ-
ment. These criteria are of public
interest and thus the safety of dams
would be a concern for regulatory
authorities.
The dams are classified as low, signifi-
cant, high, very high or extreme fail-
ure consequence. The recommended
minimum frequency of dam safety
activities is dictated by the dam clas-
sification. Among these activities are
Dam Safety Inspection (DSI), often
called Annual Inspection or Annual
Review, and Dam Safety Review
(DSR). The frequencies of dam safety
activities are depicted in the following
table, per the BC Dam Safety Regula-
tion.
This article does not discuss the DSI,
which is assigned by the owner (rep-
resentative) to a qualified professional
engineer or to the facility’s Engineer
of Record. The reference to DSI herein
is for comparison purposes only.
DSR Studies
The intent of DSR studies is to pro-
vide an independent systematic review
and evaluation of all aspects of design,
construction, operation, maintenance,
processes and other affecting sys-
tems, such as dam safety manage-
ment. These studies are carried out
by a Review Engineer and the results
are submitted to the owner as a DSR
report. The owner will then submit a
copy of the DSR report to the relevant
regulatory authority.
Review Engineer
The Review Engineer, an individual
or a multi-disciplinary team, has a
significant role in assessing the safe
performance of existing dams. Some
of the highlights of the APEGBC and
CDA Guidelines on the selection of a
Review Engineer follow:
• The provincial legislation requires
that a professional engineer quali-
fied in dam safety analysis carry
out dam safety reviews with an
awareness that the regulatory
authority will ultimately review
his or her DSR report. A qualified
professional engineer establishes
an agreement for professional ser-
vices with the client. Typically the
dam owner or the operator of the
dam, on behalf of the dam owner,
is the client.
• The owner is responsible to ensure
that the findings of the Review
Engineer will not be influenced
by his or her prior participation in
the design, construction, opera-
tion, maintenance or inspection
of the dam under review. The
guidelines also advise that the
same Review Engineer not carry
out two consecutive safety reviews
of the same dam. The objective is
to ensure that the review findings
are independent of any conflict of
Activity
Frequency of Activity
Extreme
Classification
Very High and
High
Classification
Significant
Classification
Low
Classification
Formal
Inspection (DSI)
Semi-Annually Annually
Annually
Annually
Dam Safety
Review (DSR)
and reporting
Every 7 years* Every 10
years**
Not
Applicable***
Not
Applicable
*CDA Guidelines suggest every 5 years.
**CDA Guidelines suggest every 7 years for ‘High’ and every 5 years for ‘Very
High’ consequences.
***CDA Guidelines suggest every 10 years.